Canadian Stocks Are Pulling Back On Commodity Weakness -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is down in early trade Thursday, following three consecutive days of gains. Investor concerns over the impasse in the Greek negotiations is weighing on the market, as well as weakness in commodity prices. Energy, mining and gold stocks are among the weakest performers this morning.

Markets in Europe are under pressure Thursday, after a meeting of eurozone finance ministers ended without progress on Wednesday. European Union leaders are set to meet again later in the day to discuss a cash-for-reform deal.

Markets in the United States are posting modest gains thanks to some better than expected economic data. U.S. personal spending for May logged a bigger than expected increase, while personal income showed continued growth. Weekly jobless claims also increased by less than anticipated.

Personal spending in the U.S. rose by more than expected in the month of May, the Commerce Department revealed in a report on Thursday, with spending seeing its strongest growth in nearly six years.

The Commerce Department said personal spending jumped by 0.9 percent in May following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in April. Spending had been expected to increase by 0.7 percent after originally being reported as nearly flat in the previous month.

The sharp increase in spending came amid continued growth in personal income, which rose by 0.5 percent in May, matching the upwardly revised increase seen in April. Economists had expected income to rise by 0.4 percent, which would have matched the growth originally reported for the previous month.

First-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits edged slightly higher in the week ended June 20th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday. The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 271,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 268,000.

Economists had been expecting jobless claims to rise to 273,000 from the 267,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 23.90 points or 0.16 percent at 14,923.61.

On Wednesday, the index closed up 42.60 points or 0.29 percent, at 14,947.51. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,955.33 and a low of 14,871.88.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is sinking by 2.33 percent. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is decreasing by 3.47 percent and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is down 2.60 percent. Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is falling by 0.80 percent and Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is losing 1.10 percent. Sherritt International (S.TO) is weakening by 0.46 percent.

The Gold Index is falling by 0.31 percent. Gold was stuck near its lowest in two weeks Thursday morning, barely moving as markets looked to Europe for a deal between Greece and its euro zone creditors.

B2Gold (BTO.TO) is decreasing by 1.00 percent and Royal Gold (RGL.TO) is down 0.48 percent. IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is losing 1.43 percent and Kinross Gold (K.TO) is falling by 1.04 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is declining by 0.78 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is also down 0.48 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is declining by 0.48 percent and Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is falling by 1.32 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is losing 0.54 percent.

The Energy Index is decreasing by 1.12 percent. Crude oil prices were once again flat near $60 a barrel Thursday morning amid signs that Greece and its creditors are at an impasse.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is falling by 1.71 percent and Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is down 1.18 percent. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is losing 1.14 percent and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is decreasing by 0.57 percent. Enbridge (ENB.TO) is declining by 0.20 percent and Encana (ECA.TO) is lower by 2.58 percent. Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is weakening by 2.21 percent and Legacy Oil + Gas (LEG.TO) is surrendering 0.39 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index is falling by 0.47 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is losing 0.66 percent and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is down 0.98 percent. Finning International (FTT.TO) is decreasing by 0.67 percent and Bombardier (BBD-A.TO) is declining by 0.40 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is higher by 0.30 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is up 0.15 percent and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is higher by 0.33 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is advancing by 0.63 percent and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is climbing by 0.86 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is rising by 0.29 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is climbing by 0.73 percent. TELLUS (T.TO) is up 0.26 percent and BCE (BCE.TO) is advancing by 1.00 percent. Manitoba Telecom Services (MBT.TO) is gaining 1.07 percent.

Rogers Communication (RCI-A.TO) is up 0.05 percent, after it announced its intention to exercise its option to acquire Shaw's spectrum licenses for advanced wireless service in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northern Ontario.

Shaw Communications (SJR-B.TO) is climbing by 0.61 percent. The company reported third quarter EPS of C$0.42, compared to C$47 in the prior year. Consolidated revenue was C$1.42 billion, up 5.7% from C$1.34 billion in the comparable quarter last year.

BlackBerry (BB.TO) is down 1.91 percent. The company announced that it will repurchase for cancellation up to 12 million BlackBerry common shares.

Clairvest Group (CVG.TO) is higher by 2.65 percent. The company reported fourth quarter EPS of $1.25.

Asanko Gold (AKG.TO) is falling by 2.20 percent, after an accident occurred at its project in Ghana, the Asanko Gold Mine, which resulted in the death of a contractor engaged in mining activities.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Thursday morning that Canadian average weekly earnings were little changed on a month over month basis in April and climbed by 2.5 percent year over year.

German consumer confidence is set to fall in July as unresolved debt crisis in Greece weigh on the economic outlook. Nonetheless, it remains at an elevated level as income expectations reached a new post-reunification record. The forward-looking consumer sentiment index dropped to 10.1 in July from 10.2 in June, survey data from market research group GfK showed Thursday. The score was expected to remain at 10.2.

The leading index for France, which measures the future economic activity, inched up in April, helped by large positive contributions from building permits and stock prices, survey results from the Conference Board showed Thursday. The Conference Board leading economic index edged up 0.1 percent in April, following a revised 0.4 percent increase in March. Out of the seven components, five contributed positively to the index in April.

British retailers said their sales growth slowed in June but it is expected to improve next month, the latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Thursday. About 44 percent of retailers said sales volumes increased from a year ago, while 15 percent said they were down, giving a balance of +29 percent for June. It was expected to drop to 35 percent.

In commodities, crude oil futures for July delivery are down $0.59 or 0.98 percent at $59.68 a barrel.

Natural gas for July is up 0.052 or 1.88 percent at $2.811 per million btu.

Gold futures for August are down $0.50 or 0.04 percent at $1,172.40 an ounce.

Silver for July is down $0.078 or 0.49 percent at $15.775 an ounce.