Canadian stocks may edge up at open Thursday amid a rebound in commodities and mixed cues from the global equity markets. While Asian markets ended mixed, European stocks were trading in positive territory, paring recent losses.
Meanwhile, data form the Europe showed that euro zone private sector activity downturn worsened to a three-year low in May, after the economy narrowly escaped a recession in the first quarter.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a marginally higher open.
On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index extended gains for a second session, adding 113.01 points or 0.99 percent to 11,564.80.
The price of crude oil edged up Thursday morning even after reports revealed that crude oil supplies in the U.S., the largest consumer, were on the rise for a ninth straight week. Crude for July gained $0.76 to $90.66 a barrel.
The price of gold was recovering from its recent losses Thursday morning as the U.S. dollar halted its recent up move. Gold for June rebounded $17.30 to $1,565.70 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, Royal Bank (RY.TO) posted lower second-quarter IFRS net income of C$1.51 billion, compared with last year's C$1.61 billion, with net income from continuing operations declining to C$1.56 billion from C$1.68 billion in the previous year. Consolidated IFRS earnings per share were C$0.99, down from C$1.06 in the prior-year quarter, while adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations improved to C$1.14 from last year's C$1.12.
Industrial automated machinery maker ATS Automation Tooling Systems (ATA.TO) posted lower fourth-quarter profit of C$10.9 million or C$0.13 per share compared to C$14.4 million or C$0.17 per share last year.
In economic news from south of the border, the U.S Labor Department said new unemployment claims for the week ending May 19 came in at a seasonally adjusted level of 370,000, a slight decline from the previous week's revised level of 372,000. The previous week had initially showed new unemployment claims holding level at 370,000 from the week before, so the revisions mark a slight increase. Nevertheless the report for May 19 still comes in below the expectations of most economists, who predicted a slight increase to 371,000.
Simultaneously, the Commerce Department said that durable goods orders edged up by 0.2 percent in April after tumbling by 3.7 percent in March. The steep drop reported for March reflected a revision from the 4.2 percent decrease that had been reported previously. Excluding a 2.1 percent increase in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders fell by 0.6 percent in April compared to a 0.8 percent decrease in March.
From the euro zone, German economy expanded 0.5 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first quarter as estimated in the preliminary report, detailed report from the Federal Statistical Office showed. The gross domestic product rose 0.5 percent from the prior quarter, when it fell 0.2 percent. Positive contributions came mainly from exports.
A separate report from the Markit Economics showed that euro zone private sector activity downturn worsened to a three-year low in May after the economy narrowly escaped a recession in the first quarter. The growth-engine of the 17-nation bloc Germany also returned to a negative zone. Intensifying the downturn, France's private sector shrank at the fastest since April 2009. In the rest of the euro zone, the pace of contraction remained severe.
by RTT Staff Writer
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