Canadian Stocks Are Struggling To Find Direction - Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market got off to a positive start Thursday, but have since fluctuated between small gains and losses. Energy and gold stocks are struggling this morning, as commodity prices remain little changed.

Meanwhile, investors seem to have shifted their focus away from the political turmoil in the United States and toward the start of the Federal Reserve's Economic Policy Symposium.

The majority of the European markets are up slightly Thursday, but are little changed overall.

Markets on Wall Street got off to a positive start Thursday, but have since slipped into negative territory. Investors appear reluctant to make any major moves as the Federal Reserve's Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming gets underway today. Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi are both scheduled to speak at the conference on Friday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 24.77 points or 0.16 percent at 15,087.93.

On Wednesday, the index closed up 78.20 points or 0.52 percent, at 15,063.16. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,096.09 and a low of 14,940.42.

The Capped Information Technology Index is gaining 0.33 percent. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is rising 0.81 percent and Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is adding 0.55 percent. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is up 0.50 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is increasing 0.27 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is climbing 0.27 percent and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is rising 0.15 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is higher by 0.33 percent.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is down 0.86 percent. The company reported third quarter earnings that topped expectations.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is up 0.25 percent. BCE (BCE.TO) is rising 0.47 percent and TELUS (T.TO) is increasing 0.25 percent. Rogers Communications (RCI-B.TO) is gaining 0.09 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is up 0.17 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is rising 0.07 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index is down 0.11 percent. Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is falling 0.77 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) is declining 3.39 percent. Finning International (FTT.TO) is losing 0.99 percent.

The Capped Healthcare Index is lower by 0.10 percent. Concordia International (CXR.TO) is falling 0.68 percent and Extendicare (EXE.TO) is losing 0.43 percent.

The Gold Index is decreasing 0.08 percent. Gold prices are nearly unchanged this morning, as investors await news from the Economic Policy Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is falling 0.14 percent.

The Energy Index is rising 0.03 percent. Crude oil prices are slightly lower Thursday morning, hovering just below $48 a barrel.

Encana (ECA.TO) is rising 2.15 percent and Enbridge (ENB.TO) is up 0.27 percent. Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is gaining 0.35 percent.

On the economic front, French manufacturing confidence strengthened in August to the highest level since late 2007, survey results from the statistical office Insee showed Thursday.

The manufacturing sentiment index improved to 111 in August from revised 108 in July. This was the highest score since December 2007. Economists had forecast the index to fall to 108 in August from July's initially estimated value of 109.

The UK economy expanded as initially estimated in the second quarter, the second estimate from the Office for National Statistics showed Thursday.

Gross domestic product increased 0.3 percent sequentially in the second quarter, unrevised from the preliminary estimate. The latest pace of growth was slightly faster than the 0.2 percent expansion posted in the first quarter.

British retailers reported the biggest fall in retail sales since July 2016 and orders placed on suppliers declined considerably from the previous year in August, Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Thursday.

The retail sales balance plunged to -10 percent in August from +22 percent in July. The balance was forecast to drop moderately to +16 percent. The latest score was the lowest since July 2016.

UK mortgage approvals increased to a five-month high in July, data published by the UK Finance showed Thursday. The number of mortgage approvals rose to 41,587 in July from 40,385 in June. Approvals increased by 9 percent from July 2016, when the market was markedly subdued after the EU referendum.

A report released by the Labor Department on Thursday showed a modest uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 19th.

The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 234,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 232,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to rise to 238,000.

Existing home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in the month of July, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday. NAR said existing home sales fell by 1.3 percent to an annual rate of 5.44 million in July after tumbling by 2 percent to a downwardly revised 5.51 million in June.

The continued decrease surprised economists, who had expected existing home sales to climb to an annual rate of 5.57 million in July from the 5.52 million originally reported for the previous month.

In commodities, crude oil futures for September delivery are down 0.66 or 1.36 percent at $47.75 a barrel.

Natural gas for September is up 0.042 or 1.43 percent at $2.97 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are down 0.79 or 0.06 percent at $1,293.90 an ounce.

Silver for September is down 0.086 or 0.50 percent at $16.96 an ounce.