The Q400 turboprop aircraft. Bombardier
The Toronto stock market gave up earlier gains Thursday amid earnings misses from big Canadian insurers and a major corporate shakeup at transportation giant Bombardier Inc.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 14.86 points to 15,136.64, as Bombardier shares tumbled 34 cents or 11.2 per cent to $2.70 after the iconic Canadian corporate giant suspended its dividend and announced plans to raise up to $2.5-billion.
Bombardier has faced a string of delays related to its new CSeries jetliner and cost estimates keep climbing.
"They have their issues with the CSeries, (it) seems like it's taking forever," said Allan Small, senior adviser at HollisWealth.
"There's no light at the end of the tunnel and the fact their stock is trading in the two-dollars-and-change range is not a surprise."
Bombardier also announced that chairman Laurent Beaudoin – a member of the family that has controlled the company since it was founded – will step aside.
Higher commodities helped push the Canadian dollar ahead 0.92 of a cent to 80.03 cents (U.S.).
U.S. indexes were positive as investors also focused on a cease-fire deal in Ukraine. France and Germany brokered a deal that will see a ceasefire take effect in Ukraine on Sunday.
The Dow Jones industrials gained 43.77 points to 17,905.91, the Nasdaq composite index was ahead 35.06 points to 4,836.24 and the S&P 500 index was up 11.41 points to 2,079.94.
Insurance stocks also weighed on the TSX in the wake of earnings reports from Manulife Financial and Sun Life Financial.
Manulife's core earnings per share were 36 cents per diluted share, five cents below estimates. It also said that macroeconomic factors including low interest rates "produces headwinds in 2015."
"This low interest rate environment ensures they are going to struggle," Small added.
Sun Life's net income on an adjusted basis came in at $360-million or 59 cents per share, missing estimates of 78 cents per share.
Manulife fell 86 cents to $20.98 while Sun Life lost $2.46 to $39.50.
The TSX energy sector was ahead 1.15 per cent as March crude gained $1.58 to $50.42 (U.S.) a barrel.
Cenovus Energy expects to cut its workforce by about 15 per cent, with the bulk of the cuts coming from its contractors. Its shares dipped 22 cents to $24.46 (Canadian). Oil companies have scrambled to cut costs as prices have slid about 40 per cent since late November amid a huge supply/demand imbalance.
The base metals sector ran up 1.5 per cent while April copper gained five cents to $2.59 (U.S.) a pound.
The telco sector fell almost one per cent as Telus Corp. increased its fourth-quarter profit 7.6 per cent from a year ago to $312-million (Canadian), helped by growth in its wireless business. Adjusted earnings were 53 cents, in line with estimates, and its shares fell 57 cents to $42.97.
The gold sector faded 0.3 per cent while April bullion rose $2.80 to $1,222.40 (U.S.) an ounce.
The Greek debt crisis also vied for investor attention after the country's talks with euro zone creditors on overhauling its bailout loans broke down.
Still, markets were optimistic a deal will be reached in time for Greece to avoid a potential exit from the euro.