It was a mixed day in markets as Canada’s main stock index closed down on poor performance in the financials and energy sectors, U.S. stocks saw gains driven by major tech companies.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 59.26 points at 13,899.32.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 33.33 points at 23,537.68. The S&P 500 index was up 16.19 points at 2,799.55, while the Nasdaq composite was up 139.19 points at 8,532.36.
U.S. stocks rose as Amazon.com Inc and Netflix Inc surged to record highs, although trading was choppy as investors worried about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on first-quarter earnings.
Amazon.com and Netflix rose as sweeping stay-at-home orders drove demand for online streaming services and home delivery of goods.
Boeing Co fell 8%, limiting gains in the Dow, as its European rival Airbus said it was examining requests to defer deliveries after a collapse in travel demand.
Meanwhile, the shutdown in New York was extended until May 15 even as coronavirus-related hospitalizations and deaths fell to their lowest in more than a week, adding to evidence that the hardest-hit state was controlling its spread.
“We’re not going to see a V-shaped recovery, and I think investors will eventually realize that, so it’s premature to call a bottom in stocks at this stage,” said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc., an investment advisory firm based in Toledo, Ohio.
The S&P 500 flipped between small gains and losses through the day, after the government reported that 5.2 million more Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week. The report was universally regarded as awful, and it brought the total for the last month to roughly 22 million. But markets had braced for a number that was even more awful, which helped to limit losses for stocks.
The Canadian dollar traded for 70.81 cents US, down from an average of 70.99 cents US on Wednesday.
The June crude contract was down 51 cents at US$25.53 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was up 8.8 cents at US$1.69 per mmBTU.
The June gold contract closed down US$8.50 at US$1,731.70 an ounce and the May copper contract was down half a cent at US$2.29 a pound.
Read more: Market movers: Stocks that saw action Thursday - and why
Reuters, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
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