Stocks in Toronto finished fairly flat Monday, as gold and materials stocks dragged down much of the market.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gave back its gains on the day, forfeiting 4.47 points to wind up Monday at 15,802.70
The Canadian dollar drooped 0.31 cents to 79.87 cents U.S.
Among miners of the shiny yellow metal, Kinross Gold suffered the worst, pointing lower 20 cents, or 3.6%, to $5.35, while Barrick Gold stepped backward 48 cents, or 2.3%, to $20.32.
Materials issues went south, as First Majestic Silver slid 15 cents, or 1.7%, to $8.93, while Agnico Eagle Mines lost $1.33, or 2.2%, to $57.00.
Information technology companies proved kings of the hill Monday, as Shopify towered over its previous reading by $3.73, or 3.2%, to $121.49.
Utilities also stepped forward, as Fortis Inc. gathered 43 cents to $46.14, while Hydro One held firm at $22.69.
Financials moved forward, with Manulife growing 11 cents to $26.00
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $9.8 billion in August, down from $24.0 billion in July.
At the same time, Canadian investors increased their holdings of foreign securities by $12 billion, led by purchases of U.S. corporate instruments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 4.95 points to close Monday at 792.49
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative by day’s end, with gold dulling in price 1.8%, while materials and real-estate each capsized 0.8%
The five gainers were led by information technology and utility stocks, each up 0.6%, while financials nosed ahead 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks hit record highs on Monday as Wall Street looked ahead to the release of Netflix's quarterly results.
The Dow Jones Industrials hurtled skyward 85.24 points to 22,956.96
The S&P 500 gained 4.47 points to 2,557.64, with telecommunications and financials leading advancers. Losses in real estate and health-care capped gains on the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ hiked 18.2 points to 6,624.
The three major indexes, which again hit record highs Monday, are up at least 17% in 2017.
Netflix is expected to release its third-quarter earnings shortly after the bell. Netflix's stock hit a record high last week after analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted the company will post subscriber gains above expectations. Netflix shares closed 1.6% higher; they also hit a record high earlier in the session.
Earnings season kicked off last week with JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America releasing their results. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Verizon and Honeywell are among the companies set to report this week.
Investors' hopes of corporate tax reform have increased recently, after the House passed a $4.1-trillion U.S. budget earlier this month. The Senate is expected to vote on the budget this week.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost ground, lowering yields to 2.3% from Friday’s 2.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened 43 cents a barrel to $51.88 U.S.
Gold prices lost $7.50 to $1,297.10 U.S. an ounce
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