The Toronto Stock Exchange fell a few notches at the onset of Thursday's trading day as some Canadian earnings disappointed and commodity prices were down.
In the opening minutes of trading, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 53.95 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 13,730.35.
There was good news from south of the border when the U.S. Labor Department said initial jobless claims were down 36,000 to 383,000 last week. That's the lowest level since July 2008 and came under the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters for 410,000.
In Canada, Air Canada posted an adjusted loss of six cents a share. Analysts polled by Bloomberg expected an adjusted loss of four cents a share.
BCE, meanwhile, said Thursday that fourth-quarter profit grew by 25.4 per cent to $439 million. The Montreal-based company posted an adjusted earnings per share increase of 17.6 per cent, coming in at 60 cents for the period ending Dec. 31. However, that was one cent below the average analyst consensus of 61 cents.
On the commodities market, crude oil was down 35 cents U.S. to $86.36 U.S. a barrel in New York. Gold was down $10.60 U.S. to $1,354.90 U.S. an ounce.
The Canadian dollar fell 14 basis points to $1.0047 U.S.
On U.S. stock markets, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 49.65 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 12,190.24 shortly after the open. The Nasdaq composite index was down 24.48 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 2,764.59.
European markets were also largely negative. The United Kingdom's FTSE index was down 46.48 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 6,005.81. The CAC index declined 32.68 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 4,058.06. Germany's DAX was down 40.09 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 7,280.81.
Most major Asian markets declined. Japan's Nikkei index was down 12.18 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 10,605.65. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 455.41 points, 1.97 per cent, to 22,708.62. Mainland China's Shanghai index, on the other hand, saw a rise of 44.1 points, or 1.59 per cent, to 2,818.16
On Wednesday, the TSX was down 108.23 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 13,784.30. The Dow Jones gained 6.74 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 12,239.89, while the Nasdaq dropped 7.98 points, or 0.29 per cent, 2,789.07.
