Dow Jones reaches new high
Newell Brands drops 20%
TSX closes down 75 at 16,209
US benchmarks closed mixed on Thursday, with the Nasdaq down but the Dow Jones reaching a new high.
The latter finished up 141 points at 26,392 while the S&P 500 added 1.71 at 2,839.
The tech heavy Nasdaq shed nearly 4 points at 7,411.
In oil, US crude shed 0.64% to US$65.19 a barrel.
MID-SESSION
US stocks were back to recent form it seemed and higher at mid-session.
The Dow Jones is up over 142 points at 26,394.
The S&P 500 added 3.51 at 2,841.
The Nasdaq added almost 11 points at 7,425.
US crude - or West Texas Intermediate - is up 0.03 at US$63.40 a barrel.
In Toronto, the TSX is down over 31 points at 16,252.
OPEN
US stocks were keeping their head above water - just - on Wall Street in early deals.
The Dow Jones is up over 56 points at 26,308, the S&P 500 is up 0.41 at 2,837 and the Nasdaq is up 1.18 at 7,416.
It comes as new home sales were at a 625,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate in December, official figures showed on Thursday.
Sales of newly-constructed homes swelled in December, and a big jump in November was revised down.
A notable company loser in early deals was consumer goods group Newell Brands Inc (NYSE:NWL), which saw shares tank in New York as it emerged that it was mulling strategic options for the group, which could see its customer base cut in half.
It also lowered its full year guidance, now expecting sales growth of 0.8% against a previous forecast of 1.5% to 2%
Shares slumped over 18% to US$25.26.