Canadian markets opened higher Thursday ahead of a Bank of Canada Monetary Policy Report which is expected to show the economy is improving, and as a report showed consumer confidence rose in July.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's benchmark, the S&P/TSX composite index, was up 61.12 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 10,493.47.
The Canadian dollar fell to 90.97 cents U.S. from Wednesday's close of 91.03 cents U.S..
The price of oil fell to $64.56 U.S. a barrel in early trading from its previous close of $65.40 U.S..
The price of gold was down to $948.70 U.S. an ounce from its previous close of $953.30 U.S..
A Conference Board of Canada survey released Thursday said its consumer confidence index rose 0.8 points to 82.9 in July — the fifth-straight monthly increase and 12.7 points higher than at the beginning of 2009. Although the increase was marginal, the gradual improvement in sentiment indicates "consumers do indeed see a light at the end of the tunnel."
Forty-four per cent of respondents said they felt now was a good time to make major purchases, up 2.6 percentage points from June.
Investors are also waiting for the Bank of Canada to release its Monetary Policy Report at 10:30 a.m. The central bank may project that the recession is already over and upgrade core inflation projections from its low of 0.9 per cent annually for the fourth quarter of 2009, according to Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Capital Market.
Contract electronics manufacturer Celestica Inc. reported better than expected earnings of $25 million, or 11 cents a share, down from $38.9 million, or 17 cents a share for the same time last year. Revenue was down to $1.40 billion from $1.88 billion for the same time last year. In early morning trading its shares were trading at $8.51, down 14 cents.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 9.9 points, or .11 per cent, to 8,891.16. The Nasdaq composite index was up 2.3 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 1,928.67.
Initial claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. for the week of July 18 jumped by 30,000 to 554,000, data from the U.S. Labor Department showed Thursday. The jump comes after earlier-than-usual auto industry shut downs skewed results, leading to better-than-expected figures earlier in the summer. Continuing claims for the week of July 11 came in at 6.22 million, a 88,000 decline over the previous week, probably due benefits running out, rather than employment being found.
"Taken together, while this is another 'strong' report on the surface, the myriad of factors behind the data cause the initial interpretation to lose steam quite quickly. Over the next few weeks, claims will likely start rising at a steady pace as the seasonal factors begin to dissipate," said Ian Pollick, economics strategist at TD Securities.
Markets were mostly up overseas. U.K. retail sales for June topped expectations, rising 1.2 per cent in the month, or 2.9 per cent over the previous year. London's FTSE 100 index gained 14.86 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 4,466.31 by midday Thursday. Frankfurt, Germany's DAX advanced seven points, or 0.14 per cent, to 5,128.56, and the Paris CAC lost 3.19 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 3,301.88.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average closed up 69.78 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 9,792.94. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 569.53 points, or 2.96 per cent, to 19,817.70.
On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX ended the day down 82.97 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 10,432.35. The Dow fell 34.68 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 8,881.26 and the Nasdaq composite index closed up 10.18 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 1,926.38.
