Canadian stocks were trading lower early Thursday as oil fell below $71 U.S. a barrel, while U.S. markets declined after higher-than-expected weekly jobless numbers.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark, the S&P/TSX composite index, was down 58.57 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 10,007.54 — after ending lower for four straight sessions.
Ahead of trading, Statistics Canada said the country's annual rate of inflation was 0.1 per cent in May — down from a 0.4 per cent annual increase in April — due to lower energy prices than a year earlier. Most economists had expected the consumer price index to fall into negative territory during the month.
"This is undoubtedly a stronger-than-expected report and suggests that there is a bit of resilience in the Canadian economy even in the face of developing slack,"said Charmaine Buskas, economics strategist at TD Securities.
The Canadian dollar rose after the inflation report and was trading around 88.62 cents U.S. early Thursday. The loonie closed at 88.42 cents U.S. on Wednesday.
The price of oil fell to $70.59 U.S. a barrel after finishing Wednesday at $71.03 U.S.. Gold, meanwhile, rose to $ 939.30 U.S. an ounce following a $936 U.S. close the previous day.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 14.58 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 8,482.60. The Nasdaq composite index was down 10.88 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 1,797.88.
Before the markets opened, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims rose more than expected to 608,000 last week.
Ian Pollick, economics strategist at TD Securities, said "there is still a great deal of job destruction embedded in the U.S. labour market."
In overseas markets were mixed on Thursday. London's FTSE 100 index was down 13.10 points, or 0.31 per cent, to 4,265.35 at midday. while Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.7 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 4,802.84, and the Paris CAC was flat at around 4,799.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average finished down 137.13 points, or 1.39 per cent, to 9,703.72. and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended down 307.94 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 17,776.66.
On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX closed down 241.29 points, or 2.34 per cent, to 10,066.11. The Dow Jones lost 7.49 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 8,497.18 and the Nasdaq finished down 11.88 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 1,808.06.
