Stocks dangle in Toronto

Toronto stocks have dropped slightly on Thursday, extending the slump from the final hour of the previous session. Energy stocks have seen some weakness as crude oil moves lower.

Just before the lunch break, the S&P/TSX Composite index had slumped 18.15 points to 11,423.87.

Crude oil has lost ground, as Canadian Oil Sands has lost 1.6% and Canadian Natural Resources is down 1.1%.

Harvest Energy Trust has soared 33.2% after the oil and natural gas company announced it has agreed to be acquired by state-run Korea National Oil Corp. in a deal worth about $4.1 billion, including the assumption of debt.

Husky Energy has declined 3.1% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $338 million or $0.40 per share compared with $1.27 billion or $1.50 per share in the same quarter last year.

Precision Drilling Trust has slipped 1.1% after the company reported third quarter net income of $72 million or $0.25 per unit, compared to $82 million or $0.61 per unit last year.

In corporate news, Potash has climbed 1.75% after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $248.8 million U.S. or $0.82 U.S. per share, compared to $1.2 billion U.S. or $3.93 U.S. per share, in the same quarter last year.

Corus Entertainment has dropped 2.5% as the company announced its fourth-quarter net income was $18.7 million or $0.23 per share, compared to net income of $17.4 million or $0.21 per share last year.

Cangene Corp. has rallied 13.8% after the company reported full-year net income of $59.9 million or $0.86 per share, compared with $29.6 million or $0.42 per share a year earlier.

Pinetree Capital has slipped 1.2% after the company announced it acquired approximately 2.55 million common shares of U308 Corp.

On the economic front, Canadian retail sales data increased 0.8% in August, according to data released Thursday morning. A rise of 0.1% is forecast, compared to a revised drop of 0.5% in July. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.5% after falling a revised 0.7% in July.

The Canadian dollar skidded 0.25 cents to 95.42 cents U.S.

ON BAYSTREET

Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were moving forward. Global base metals were up 0.9%, followed by consumer discretionaries, which advanced 0.7%, and metals and mining stocks, up 0.6%.

The half-dozen losing groups were weighed down by energy and industrials stocks, down 0.5% each, and real-estate issues, listing lower by 0.4%.

The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 11.60 points to 1,330.99, while the Nasdaq Canada index crept ahead 3.73 points to 705.99.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, stocks were mixed near midday Thursday, with better-than-expected results from Travelers, AT&T and others lifting the Dow industrials back above 10,000, but weakness in a variety of techs keeping the Nasdaq underwater.

The Dow Jones Industrials gained 52.07 points to 10,001.43. The S&P 500 index increased 0.84 points to 1,082.24. The Nasdaq composite index gave back 8.79 points to 2,141.94.

Stocks tumbled Wednesday, with the Dow abandoning 10,000, after influential analyst Richard X. Bove of Rochdale Securities cut his rating on Wells Fargo, sparking a steep selloff in the banking sector.

That sent global markets down overnight, which in turn weighed on U.S. stocks in the early going. But better-than-expected profits from Dow component Travelers and others helped boost the Dow Thursday morning

Dow component Travelers said its quarterly profit more than tripled, easily topping analysts' estimates. The insurer also lifted its full-year forecast to a profit of between $5.30 and $5.50 U.S. per share. Shares jumped 6%.

Fellow Dow component AT&T reported a better-than-expected third quarter profit thanks to the impact of iPhone, for which it has been the exclusive carrier. Wireless revenue jumped 10% in the quarter. Shares gained 2%.

Dow component McDonald's reported higher third-quarter earnings that topped estimates on weaker third-quarter revenue that missed estimates. Shares rose 2%.

3M, also a Dow component, said third-quarter earnings and revenue fell from a year ago, but both were above analysts' estimates. Shares gained 3%.

Merck, the fifth Dow component to report Thursday morning, said its earnings and revenue rose from a year ago and topped estimates. Shares of the drugmaker were little changed.

So far, 167 companies, or 33% of the S&P 500, have reported results. Profits are currently on track to have fallen 19.2% versus a year earlier, according to the latest from Thomson Reuters.
Revenue is expected to have dropped over 10% from a year ago.

Microsoft launched the newest version of its operating system, Windows 7. The tech behemoth and Dow component is hoping that users who have been running XP for years will switch to the new system -- and forgive it for the disappointing performance of Windows Vista in 2007.

Microsoft reports quarterly results Friday.

Rconomically speking, the index of leading economic indicators rose 1% in September after rising a revised 0.4% in the previous month. Economists thought it would rise 0.8%.

The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency's housing price index fell 0.3% in September after rising 0.3% in August. Economists thought it would rise 0.3%.

The government reported that initial jobless claims jumped by 11,000 to 531,000 in the week ended Oct. 17. This was more than 515,000 claims forecast by Briefing.com consensus.

The government said the continuing claims fell by 98,000 to about 5.9 million.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.40% from Wednesday's 3.38%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The price of a barrel of oil tailed off 91 cents to $80.46 U.S.

Gold prices lost $6 to $1,059 U.S. an ounce.