Canadian Stocks Aim For Gains As Earnings Season Heats Up

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks may open on a positive note on Thursday although the tech sector is likely to find the going a bit tough following a sell-off in global tech stocks. Investors will mostly be reacting to earnings announcements, and PMI data.

In earnings news, Restaurant Brands International reported earnings per share of $1.50 for the second-quarter, compared with $1.29 a year ago.

Curaleaf Holdings' second-quarter net income attributable to the company of $12.5 million or $0.05 per share, compared with a net loss of $53.2 million or $0.24 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Lundin Mining's net earnings from continuing operations attributable to the company's shareholders increased to $278.4 million in the second-quarter, from $115.7 million in the previous year.

Enerflex reported that its second quarter net earnings declined to $30 million from $60 million, a year ago. Earnings per share on a basic basis fell to $0.25 from $0.49.

BCE Inc. reported earnings per share of $0.65 for the second-quarter of this financial year, compared with $0.63 in the year-ago quarter.

Keyera's EPS for the second-quarter came in at $1.19, up sharply from $0.55 in the year-ago quarter.

Wheaton Precious Metals, Sun Life Financial, Saputo, Iamgold Corporation and Open Text Corporation are scheduled to announce their quarterly earnings later in the day.

S&P Global's report on Canadian Composite PMI and Services PMI for the month of July will be out at 9:30 AM ET.

The Canadian market closed on a firm note on Wednesday, extending previous session's strong upmove, thanks to gains in the gold-linked materials sector after concerns of near-term U.S. interest rate hikes receded following U.S. President Donald Trump's reassurance that U.S-Iran agreement will happen anytime soon.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which stayed positive throughout the session, settled with a gain of 344.83 points or 0.96% at 36,146.42.

Asian markets ended mixed on Thursday as chip stocks faced selling pressure following a sharp pullback in U.S. semiconductor and technology stocks overnight.

The major European markets gained ground in positive territory today with investors mostly reacting to corporate earnings announcements, and betting on hopes the ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and Iran will pave the way for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz sometime soon.

In commodities trading, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures are down $0.27 or 0.36% at $74.95 a barrel.

Gold futures are up $21.70 or 0.5% at $4,326.90 an ounce, while Silver futures are down $0.298 or 0.48% at $61.990 an ounce.