TSX Ends Lower On Oil Prices, Greek Debt Crisis -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks ended at a one-week low for a second straight session on Thursday, driven by continued decline in crude oil prices due to a huge build in U.S. inventories and on Greece's debt woes with Germany rejecting Athens extension request to their bailout funding program.

Nonetheless, most European markets ended in positive territory, and U.S. markets with some modest recovery.

The Greek financial woes continued to take center stage after Germany rejected Athens' proposal for an extension to its bailout funding program. German officials said Greece is only scheming to get another lifeline without fulfilling all the terms of its rescue package.

However, yesterday's dovish Federal Reserve minutes helped stocks cap losses. The Fed minutes from the January meeting suggest policy makers may be in no hurry to raise interest rates. Nevertheless, the meeting did not take into account the blockbuster U.S. jobs report for January, which was released a few days later.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank on Wednesday reportedly approved support to Greek banks under its Emergency Liquidity Assistance program, with an increase by EUR 3.3 billion to EUR 68.3 billion.

U.S. economic data continued to disappoint investors, with the Philly Fed index coming in weaker than expected and the leading economic index slightly lower than anticipated. However, weekly jobless claims fell more than expected.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Thursday at 15,180.33, down 32.42 points or 0.21 percent. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,211.81 and a low of 15,099.91.

On Wednesday, the index closed lower by 71.86 points or 0.47 percent, at 15,212.75. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,286.39 and a low of 15,178.04.

Crude oil ended lower as oversupply concerns resurfaced after an official weekly oil report from the Energy Information Administration showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have surged more than expected last week.

U.S. crude oil inventories jumped 7.7 million barrels in the week ended February 13, while analysts expected an increase of 3.1 million barrels. The EIA report showed U.S. crude oil inventories at 425.6 million barrels end last week.

Gasoline stocks increased by 0.5 million barrels last week, while analysts anticipated an increase of 0.4 million barrels.

The Energy Index dropped 0.40 percent with U.S. crude oil futures for March delivery, shedding $0.98 or 1.9 percent to settle at $51.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.

Among energy stocks, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (PRE.TO) slipped 0.24 percent, Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) shed 1.76 percent, Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (PWT.TO) fell 1.01 percent and Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) dropped 0.93 percent.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ.TO) dipped 0.42 percent, while Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) dropped 3.78 percent, Suncor Energy (SU.TO) fell 0.05 percent, and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) edged down 0.05 percent.

Talisman Energy (TLM.TO) added 1.16 percent, after holders of its Common Shares and Preferred Shares approved the proposed arrangement under which Spanish oil major Repsol S.A. will acquire the company through a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The Diversified Metals & Mining Index dropped 1.25 percent, as Sherritt International Corp. (S.TO) declined 2.40 percent, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) fell 2.79 percent, Teck Resources (TCK-B.TO) dropped 1.91 percent, and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) shed 0.66 percent.

Finning International Inc. (FTT.TO) surrendered 2.29 percent, after reporting fourth quarter basic earnings of C$0.62 per share, compared to C$0.54 per share a year ago.

Gold futures rebounded from a near seven-week low to end higher, after reports that Germany has rejected a proposal to extend Greece's bailout terms for just six months.

However, the Global Gold Index fell 2.03 percent, with gold for April delivery gaining $7.40 or 0.6 percent to settle at $1,207.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.

Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) plummeted 7.84 percent after reporting fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $0.07 per share, down from $0.09 per share last year. Analysts expected earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter.

IAMGOLD Corp. (IMG.TO) dropped 0.69 percent after reporting fourth quarter adjusted earnings of $0.03 per share, compared to $0.05 per share in the prior year period.

Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI.TO) fell 0.96 percent, after reporting a fourth-quarter net loss of $0.03 per share, which was in line with expectations.

Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) surged by 5.39 percent, having reported fourth quarter adjusted $0.15 per share, which surpassed the consensus estimate of $0.13 per share.

Among other gold stocks, Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) shed 0.29 percent, Franco-Nevada Corp. (FNV.TO) dropped 3.17 percent, Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW.TO) fell 2.02 percent. Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO) declined 2.00 percent, and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (AEM.TO) surrendered 2.60 percent.

The Capped Materials Index dropped 1.05 percent, with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT.TO) adding 0.39 percent and Agrium Inc. (AGU.TO) gaining 2.15 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index edged down 0.01 percent, as Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) added 0.22 percent, National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) inched up 0.04 percent, Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) added 0.57 percent, and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) shed 0.33 percent.

Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) inched down 0.05 percent, while Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) dropped 0.32 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index dropped 1.00 percent, with Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO) falling 2.78 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) edging down 0.08 percent.

The Information Technology Index added 0.36 percent, as BlackBerry Limited (BB.TO) gained 0.62 percent, Constellation Software (CSU.TO) moved up 0.75 percent, and Descartes Systems Group Inc. (DSG.TO) gained 0.41 percent.

The Healthcare Index moved up 0.21 percent, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX.TO) gained 1.11 percent, Extendicare Inc. (EXE.TO) added 0.29 percent, and Catamaran Corp. (CCT.TO) fell 0.90 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Index inched up 0.08 percent, with BCE shedding 0.52 percent, TELUS Corp. (T.TO) gaining 0.64 percent, and Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B.TO) inching up 0.02 percent.

easyhome Ltd. (EH.TO) soared 9.15 percent, after the company reported a fourth quarter profit of $0.51 per share, compared to $0.33 per share in the previous year.

On the economic front, a Labor Department report on Thursday showing that initial jobless claims in the U.S. pulled back more than expected in the week ended February 14, after reporting increases in first-time claims for unemployment benefits in the two previous weeks.

The report said initial jobless claims dropped to 283,000, a decrease of 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 304,000. Economists had been expecting initial jobless claims to show a somewhat more modest decrease to a level of 290,000.

While the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a report on Thursday showing continued growth in regional manufacturing activity in the month of February, the pace of growth unexpectedly slowed for the third consecutive month. The diffusion index for current general activity fell to 5.2 in February from 6.3 in January, although a positive reading indicates a continued increase in regional manufacturing activity. Economists expected the Philly Fed index to climb to a reading of 9.0.

A Conference Board report on Thursday showed its index of leading U.S. economic indicators increased modestly in January, suggesting a positive short-term outlook. The Board's leading economic index edged up by 0.2 percent in January following a downwardly revised 0.4 percent increase in December. Economists expected the index to rise by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent advance originally reported for the previous month.

The euro area current account surplus declined to a four-month low in December, the European Central Bank reported Thursday. The current account surplus dropped to EUR 17.8 billion in December from EUR 19.9 billion in November. This level was last seen in August.

French consumer prices declined for the first time since October 2009, the statistical office Insee said Thursday. Consumer prices fell more-than-expected 0.4 percent in January from last year, reversing a 0.1 percent rise in December. Prices were expected to drop 0.3 percent. This was the first decrease since October 2009 and matched the 0.4 percent drop seen in September 2009.