TSX Drops Along With Oil Prices -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks fell Thursday along with oil prices, as traders booked profits after recent gains.

The TSX Composite Index was down 73.67 points to 15,191.96. Energy stocks remained sluggish, while financials took a turn for the worse.

Struggling lender Home Capital (HCG.TO) posted a quarterly loss of $111.1 million, or $1.73 per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of $1.54 per share. The stock was flat.

BCE (BCE.TO) second quarter net earnings attributable to the company decline 2.1 percent to $762 million from $778 million in the prior year. On a per share basis, earnings were down 5.6 percent to $0.84 from 0.89 in the previous year.

In economic news, activity in the U.S. service sector grew at a notably slower rate in the month of July, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Thursday.

The ISM said its non-manufacturing index dropped to 53.9 in July from 57.4 in June, although a reading above 50 still indicates growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 57.0.

WTI light sweet crude oil futures settled down 1.1% at $49.03/bbl.