Toronto stocks may open lower Thursday, as oil prices continue to fall and U.S. markets are closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

Oil prices fell for a second day Thursday in response to rising U.S. supplies of crude. On London’s ICE Futures exchange, January Brent was down 34¢ at US$59.15 a barrel.

Trading was expected to be thin as the New York Mercantile Exchange was closed for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.

In M&A news, Onex Corp is part of a group making an $8 billion bid for Australia’s Qantas Airways, the Globe and Mail reports. Qantas confirmed Wednesday it had received a takeover offer from a private-equity consortium led by Australia’s Macquarie Bank and Texas Pacific Group of San Francisco.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada said corporate operating profits climbed 2.8% to a record $58.4 billion in the third quarter.

Three-quarters of the increase was in the petroleum refining and the banking industries. Excluding these two industries, operating profit edged up a more modest 0.8%.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.66¢, down 0.02 of a cent.

This afternoon, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is expected spell out the tax cuts the Conservative government wants to make for the next decade in Canada, when he delivers his economic statement to the House of Commons finance committee.

Overseas, European indexes dropped in early action.

Japanese financial markets were closed for Labour Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday.

In Hong Kong, blue-chip Hang Seng index inched up 14.53 points, or 0.1%, to 19,265.32.

Toronto stocks fell back Wednesday, giving up a portion of the gains made in the previous session when the senior exchange rallied and hit a new all-time high.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 45.32 points, or 0.36%, to 12,556.98 as losses in the energy sector led the market lower.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index lifted 2.73 points, or 0.10%, to 2,666.62.

In New York, markets moved ahead on lower energy prices and some good corporate earnings reports.

The Dow Jones gained 5.36, or 0.04%, to 12,326.95, after reaching an all-time intra-session high of 12,361. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite index moved ahead 11.14, or 0.45%, to 2,465.98, and the S&P 500 inched ahead 3.28, or 0.23%, to 1,406.09.