Bay Street Rally Fizzles Out, TSX Edges Down -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks edged down from 5-year highs on Thursday, as traders booked some profits ahead of tomorrow's U.S. jobs report.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 56.90 points, or 0.39 percent, at 14,402.21.

In corporate news, Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC.TO) lost 5 percent after the company reported a sharp plunge in fourth-quarter 2013 net income to C$29.1 million, or C$0.06 a share, from last year's C$86.8 million, or C$0.75 a share.

UrtheCast Corp. (UR.TO), a Vancouver-based technology company developing and launching the High Definition video stream of Earth from the International Space Station or ISS, Thursday said it has been advised that the ISS program activities have been exempted from the recent decision by the U.S. government to suspend contact with Russian government representatives. The stock was up more than 4 percent.

WestJet (WJA.TO) shares were up 0.7 percent after the company announced that its March traffic increased 3.9 percent year-over-year, and capacity grew 6.6 percent over the same period. Load factor was 84.0%, down 2.1 points from 86.1%, prior year.

Fortis Inc. (FTS.TO) has received received regulatory approval in the U.S. for acquiring Arizona-based UNS Energy Corp. in a deal wort $4.3 billion. The stock was down marginally.

Reitmans (Canada) Ltd. (RET.A.TO) shares jumped 8.4 percent despite the company reporting a net loss of $2.57 million for its fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $1.14 million in the same period a year earlier.

Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) was down 1.8 percent. The company said it is continuing its due diligence process at Canadian gold miner Osisko Mining Corp.'s (OSK.TO), Malartic mine in Quebec.

In economic news from the U.S., the ISM said its non-manufacturing index climbed to 53.1 in March from 51.6 in February. A reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the service sector,

The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that U.S. jobless claims rebounded by more than expected in the week ended March 29th.

Initial jobless claims climbed to 326,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 310,000.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank left the main refi rate unchanged at a record low 0.25 percent for a fifth month running.