Workers talk near a Caterpillar Inc. mining truck at Syncrude Canada Ltd.'s oil sands North Mine in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday, June 29, 2010.Jimmy Jeong/Bloomberg
The Toronto stock market is higher despite mixed earnings news from Canada and the U.S. and worries about the eurozone debt crisis.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 27.16 points to 11,494.11. The Canadian dollar was up 0.25 of a cent to 98.25 cents US.
U.S. markets were mainly higher amid better than expected earnings reports from manufacturing giants Boeing and Caterpillar.
The Dow Jones industrials gained 78.79 points to 12,696.11. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8.13 points to 2,854.86 after tech giant Apple Inc. reported its slowest growth in more than two years. The S&P 500 index was up 1.92 points to 1,340.23.
Oil is up 47 cents to $88.97 a barrel (U.S.).
Traders also took in higher earnings from Canadian National Railway while a series of expenses, ranging from management transition costs to a nine-day strike, contributed to weaker second-quarter earnings at Canadian Pacific.
In the U.S. more disappointing earnings followed Wednesday, with Ford reporting a 57 per cent decline in net income, PepsiCo saying net income tumbled 21 per cent. WellPoint, the nation's second largest insurer, lowered its outlook because of falling profits and Delta Air Lines reported second-quarter losses of nearly $200-million due to bad hedging calls on oil.
There were some surprises to the upside, however.
Caterpillar rode a recovery in the housing market and robust mining activity overseas to a profit of $1.7-billion during the quarter, blowing away Wall Street expectations. Boeing, coming off a dazzling performance at the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K., said its second-quarter net income rose 3 per cent on strong sales of commercial airplanes and unexpected defense unit growth.