Canadian Stocks Continue To Slide As Year End Approaches -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is falling in early trade Thursday, adding to its losses from the previous two sessions. Trading activity is on the light side this New Year's Eve, with the long holiday weekend approaching. Nearly every Canadian sector is trading in the red this morning, with the largest declines among the financial and industrial sectors.

Markets in Europe are also under pressure Thursday, but several major markets are either closed for the day, or shutting down early for the holiday. Markets such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy are closed today, while the U.K., France and the Netherlands work half-day.

Markets in the United States are also struggling this morning. Continued weakness in crude oil prices and a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims has soured the mood among investors.

Ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report next week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected in the week ended December 26th.

The report said initial jobless claims climbed to 287,000, an increase of 20,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 267,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge up to 270,000.

Chicago-area business unexpectedly saw a continued contraction in the month of December, according to a report released by MNI Indicators on Thursday. MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer dropped to 42.9 in December from 48.7 in November, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction in activity.

The decrease by the business barometer came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to climb to 50.0.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 139.41 points or 1.06 percent at 13,002.88.

On Wednesday, the index closed down 103.46 points or 0.78 percent, at 13,142.29. The index scaled an intraday high of 13,244.76 and a low of 13,121.88.

The heavyweight Financial Index is falling 1.29 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is decreasing 1.20 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is down 1.07 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is lower by 0.92 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is declining 1.46 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is dropping 1.51 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is losing 0.92 percent.

The Capped Industrials Index is lower by 1.23 percent. CAE (CAE.TO) is falling 0.65 percent and AutoCanada (ACQ.TO) is losing 1.97 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is decreasing 1.02 percent and Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is sinking 2.11 percent. Finning International (FTT.TO) is also down 0.92 percent.

Air Canada (AC.TO) is declining 0.88 percent, after one of its passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing near Calgary after encountering severe turbulence causing injuries to 21 people on board.

Bombardier Commercial Aircraft (BBD_B.TO, BBD_A.TO) announced that China Express Airlines has placed a firm order for 10 CRJ900 regional jets. The order is valued at approximately $462.6 million. The stock is climbing 0.71 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is losing 1.04 percent. Manitoba Telecom Services (MBT.TO) is falling 0.89 percent and BCE (BCE.TO) is decreasing 1.29 percent. Rogers Communication (RCI-A.TO) is also down 0.70 percent.

TELUS (T.TO) is declining 1.05 percent. The company will pay over $7-million in customer rebates for misleading ads.

The Capped Information Technology Index is down 1.02 percent. BlackBerry (BB.TO) is dipping 0.31 percent and Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is falling 1.44 percent. Avigilon (AVO.TO) is decreasing 0.87 percent and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) is lower by 1.08 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is down 1.03 percent. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is falling 0.90 percent and Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is down 0.41 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is weakening by 0.76 percent and Agrium (AGU.TO) is losing 1.16 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT.TO) is decreasing 2.06 percent.

The Gold Index is falling 0.59 percent. Gold prices are little changed in quiet dealing as traders worldwide prepared to pop the cork in celebration of the new year.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is declining 0.98 percent and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is falling 0.96 percent. IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is surrendering 1.98 percent and Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is lower by 2.30 percent. Goldcorp (G.TO) is decreasing 0.63 percent and B2Gold (BTO.TO) is weakening by 0.71 percent. Kinross Gold (K.TO) is also losing 2.75 percent.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is declining 0.45 percent. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is falling 0.29 percent and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is losing 2.23 percent. Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is surrendering 3.33 percent.

The Capped Health Care Index is losing 0.27 percent. Extendicare (EXE.TO) is falling 0.92 percent and Concordia Healthcare (CXR.TO) is dipping 0.09 percent.

The Energy Index is decreasing 0.01 percent. Crude oil prices continue to fall Thursday, a fitting end to a year that has seen staggering losses.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is down 0.61 percent and Husky Energy (HSE.TO) is weakening by 0.21 percent. Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is falling 0.24 percent.

On the economic front, the eurocoin indicator, which measures the current economic situation in the euro area, increased notably in December to the highest level in four-and-a-half years, the Bank of Italy and the Centre for Economic Policy Research said in a survey report on Thursday.

The eurocoin indicator rose to 0.45 in December from 0.37 in the previous month. The latest reading was the highest level since July 2011.

Britons' housing equity injections decreased to the lowest level in almost six years in the third quarter, the Bank of England said Thursday. Households injected GBP 8.82 billion in the third quarter compared to GBP 12.17 billion in the previous three months. This was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2009, when it totaled GBP 8.1 billion.

In commodities, crude oil futures for January delivery are up $0.12 or 0.33 percent at $36.72 a barrel.

Natural gas for January is up 0.158 or 5.78 percent at $2.342 per million btu.

Gold futures for February are up $0.80 or 0.08 percent at $1,060.60 an ounce.

Silver for March is up $0.008 or 0.06 percent at $13.85 an ounce.