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Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Nov. 3, 2014.BRENDAN MCDERMID/Reuters

Markets in New York and Toronto were neutral Thursday morning amid positive earnings reports and a fresh commitment to economic stabilization measures from the head of the European Central Bank.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 1.56 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 14,592.14.

The Canadian dollar declined 0.21 of a cent to 87.59 cents (U.S.).

The euro fell back and the U.S. dollar advanced after European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said the bank is preparing the groundwork for further stimulus measures "if needed" for the struggling European economy.

Draghi has said the ECB could engage in further unconventional measures, such as large-scale bond purchases to pump newly created money into the economy. But the ECB has held off, in part because of skepticism about the measure in Germany, the eurozone's largest and most influential member.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 9.86 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 17,494.39, the S&P 500 index slipped 2.46 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,021.11 while the Nasdaq gave up 7.48 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 4,621.03.

Among the heavy slate of earnings news, Sun Life Financial Inc. posted at $435-million net profit in the third quarter, reversing last year's net loss of $502-million amid a sharp increase in total revenue. Sun Life said net operating income from continuing operations, which adjusts for certain factors, was $467-million or 76 cents per share, two cents ahead of estimates and its shares were ahead 23 cents to $40.76.

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. shares gained 87 cents to $39.13 as the energy company posted quarterly net income of $1.039-billion, or 94 cents per share, compared with $1.168-billion, or $1.07 per share, a year ago. Cash flow was also down, at $2.44-billion from $2.45-billion a year ago.

Air Canada ran up six per cent to $9.44 as the carrier posted adjusted profit of $457-million or $1.55 a share, 11 cents higher than forecasts as the international airline benefited from higher revenue and cost-savings initiatives. Systemwide passenger revenue rose to $3.48-billion, up 9.4 per cent from the same time last year.

Telus Corp. reported that quarterly adjusted net income increased to $387-million or 64 cents per share, while revenue grew by 5.4 per cent to $3.03-billion. The adjusted profit was three cents per share above expectations of 61 cents per share while revenue was in line with estimates. Telus shares edged up nine cents to $41.46.

BCE Inc. shares gained 42 cents to $51.50 as adjusted net income increased by 11 per cent from a year ago to $648-million or 83 cents per share – five cents above analyst expectations.

There are also major job cuts at SNC-Lavalin. The Montreal-based company plans to reduce its global workforce by 4,000, or nine per cent of the total, over 18 months starting in 2015, part of its ongoing efforts to get out of underperforming business segments. About three-quarters of the cuts will be outside of Canada. SNC shares fell 6.6 per cent to $43.14.

The TSX has had a volatile week as energy stocks were rocked by a move by Saudi Arabia to cut prices for its U.S. customers in order to to compete with a surge in oil production in the United States. The price cut and a stronger U.S. dollar cut crude prices this week to three-year lows before stabilizing somewhat on Wednesday.

But on Thursday, the higher greenback continued to weigh on commodities with the December crude contract in New York down $1.01 to $77.67 (U.S.) a barrel. The energy sector rose 0.5 per cent.

The gold sector was up 3.4 per cent while December gold was down $2.40 to $1,143.30 an ounce.

Base metals led decliners with a 0.15 per cent dip while December copper was unchanged to $3 a pound.

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