Canadian Stocks Are Climbing On Energy Strength -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is trading modestly to the upside Thursday morning, extending the strong gains of the previous session. Energy stocks remain the strongest performers after OPEC agreed to output cuts at its informal meeting yesterday. However, weakness in gold stocks is limiting the upside move.

Markets in Europe began Thursday's session with a solid gain, but have since pared their early gains. The early jump was a continuation of the gains from the previous session, after OPEC countries agreed to modest oil output cuts in the first such deal since 2008.

Markets in the United States are trading slightly to the downside Thursday morning. Profit taking appears to be playing a role in the pullback, as traders cash in on the recent gains on Wall Street. Those gains were spurred in part by a jump in the price of crude oil in response to news of an OPEC production cut.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 44.53 points or 0.30 percent at 14,775.96.

On Wednesday, the index closed up 173.39 points or 1.19 percent, at 14,731.43. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,740.07 and a low of 14,574.50.

The Energy Index is up 1.96 percent. Crude oil prices have leveled off around $47 a barrel Thursday after big gains in the previous session. OPEC surprisingly agreed in principle on output cuts. Details are yet to be announced, but such a deal would go some ways toward alleviating the global supply glut that has weighed on oil prices.

Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is gaining 3.50 percent and Encana (ECA.TO) is advancing 3.67 percent. Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is rising 2.42 percent and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is climbing 1.87 percent. Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is increasing 1.77 percent and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is higher by 2.18 percent. Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) is up 2.37 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is increasing 0.23 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is up 0.23 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is rising 0.13 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is higher by 0.08 percent and Toronto Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is adding 0.26 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is climbing 0.49 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is gaining 0.20 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is up 0.09 percent. BCE (BCE.TO) is rising 0.40 percent and TELUS (T.TO) is higher by 0.12 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index is gaining 0.08 percent. Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is higher by 0.51 percent and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is increasing 0.36 percent. Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is climbing 3.09 percent and AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) is rising 0.23 percent. Air Canada (AC.TO) is advancing 1.70 percent and Finning International (FTT.TO) is up 1.28 percent

The Gold Index is lower by 1.50 percent. Gold prices have pared early losses and are back near unchanged levels.

Goldcorp (G.TO) is falling 0.64 percent and Kinross Gold (K.TO) is losing 1.60 percent. Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is declining 0.64 percent and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is down 0.75 percent. IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is decreasing 1.79 percent and B2Gold (BTO.TO) is weakening by 1.71 percent and Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is surrendering 1.62 percent.

Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (KLG.TO) and Newmarket Gold Inc. (NMI.TO) announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge the two companies. Kirkland is sinking 6.29 percent, but Newmarket is gaining 2.07 percent.

The Capped Healthcare Index is lower by 0.81 percent. Concordia Healthcare (CXR.TO) is dropping 1.29 percent and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is declining 2.23 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is down 0.52 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is falling 0.79 percent and Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is declining 1.19 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is losing 0.90 percent.

The Capped Information Technology Index is slipping 0.04 percent. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is falling 0.55 percent.

SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. (SNC.TO) said that it lowered its 2016 outlook from an adjusted earnings per share due to unfavorable cost and revenue reforecast. Shares are sinking 5.35 percent.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that Canada's average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $955 in July, little changed from the previous month (-0.2%) and from 12 months earlier (+0.1%).

Eurozone economic sentiment rebounded strongly to an eight-month high in September from a five-month low in the previous month, mainly driven by the improvement in industrial and retailers' confidence, survey data from the European Commission showed Thursday.

The economic sentiment index climbed to 104.9 from 103.5 in August. Economists had forecast an unchanged reading.

German consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in 16 months during September, preliminary data from Destatis showed Thursday. The consumer price index climbed 0.7 percent year-on-year following 0.4 percent increase in the each of the previous two months. Economists had forecast 0.6 percent inflation.

Germany's unemployment rate held steady in August as the number of those without jobs eased, figures from Destatis showed Thursday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate based on ILO norms was 4.2 percent, unchanged from July, results of the labor force survey showed. The figure was 4.5 percent in the same month last year.

German unemployment increased unexpectedly in September, reports said citing the Federal Labor Agency on Thursday. The number of people out of work increased by 1,000 to 2.68 million, confounding expectations for a decrease of 5,000.

The jobless rate remained unchanged at a seasonally adjusted 6.1 percent, the lowest since the German reunification. The rate came in line with expectations.

U.K. mortgage approvals declined in August to the lowest since late 2014, the Bank of England reported Thursday. The number of mortgages approved in August dropped to 60,058 from 60,925 in July. This was the lowest since November 2014, when mortgages totaled 59,392. The level was expected to fall to 60,200 in August.

Primarily reflecting upward revisions to non-residential fixed investment, private inventory investment, and exports, the Commerce Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. gross domestic product increased by more than previously estimated in the second quarter.

The report said second quarter GDP climbed by 1.4 percent compared to the previously reported 1.1 percent increase. Economists had expected the pace of GDP growth to be upwardly revised to 1.3 percent.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by less than expected in the week ended September 24th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims edged up to 254,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 251,000.

Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 260,000 from the 252,000 originally reported for the previous week.

In commodities, crude oil futures for October delivery are up 0.04 or 0.09 percent at $47.09 a barrel.

Natural gas for October is down 0.03 or 1.00 percent at $2.972 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are down $0.30 or 0.02 percent at $1,323.40 an ounce.

Silver for December is up $0.089 or 0.47 percent at $19.21 an ounce.