Equities in Canada’s largest market continued to troll negative territory midday Monday, as health-care plumbed recent depths, and housing figures came into the picture.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained lower 54.21 points to approach noon ET at 16,341.94, on track to snap a five-day run of gains on Monday
The Canadian dollar regained 0.26 cents at 75.09 cents U.S.
Top percentage gainers on the TSX were MEG Energy, gathering 34 cents, or 6.1%, to $5.84, and Crescent Point Energy Group, rising 31 cents, or 7%, to $4.75.
Canada Goose Holdings fell $1.99, or 3.1%, to $63.22, the most on the TSX, followed by Cronos Group Inc, down $1.36, or 5.5%, to $23.35.
On the economic beat, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the trend in housing starts was 202,279 units in March, compared to 202,039 units in February.
Statistics Canada revealed that Canadian municipalities issued $7.8 billion worth of building permits in February, down 5.7% from the previous month. The decline was largely due to lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 2.2 points to 632.01
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were negative with health-care down 1.2%, while information technology and industrials slipped 0.7%.
The two gainers were energy, sprinting 1.1%, and consumer staples, better by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Monday, pressured by declines in Boeing and General Electric, as Wall Street digested strong gains from the previous week and looked ahead to the start of the corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average swooned 150.52 points to pause for noon hour at 26,274.47
The S&P 500 lost 6.76 points at 2,885.98, as the industrial sector dipped 0.9%.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 16.2 points to 7,922.5
Boeing dropped more than 3.5% after Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the aerospace giant to neutral from buy. The bank said it expects production of the 737 Max jet to be delayed by six to nine months.
GE, meanwhile, fell more than 6% after J.P. Morgan cut its price target on the stock to $5 from $6 a share, noting: "We believe many investors are underestimating the severity of the challenges and underlying risks at GE, while overestimating the value of small positives."
Snap shares rose more than 3% after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the social media company to outperform from sector perform, noting the "potential for a positive inflection point catalyzing" the stock.
On the data front, factory orders for February fell 0.5% amid weakness in the machinery, transportation equipment and electronic products segments. Shipments, however, rose 0.4%. Treasury yields climbed on the data.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, raising yields to 2.52% from Friday’s 2.5%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.09 to $64.17 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $6.20 to $1,301.80 U.S. an ounce.
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