Equities in Canada’s largest market fell on Tuesday as lower commodity prices weighed on energy and gold mining stocks, while the heavyweight financials group also lost ground.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index withered 66.52 points to open Tuesday at 15,038.76
The Canadian dollar faded 0.13 at 77.44 cents U.S.
Telecom shares were lower, as BCE fell 26 cents to $57.72, and Rogers slid 35 cents to $61.10.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating Bellatrix Exploration to hold from speculative buy.
Bellatrix inched up one cent to $3.08.
Canaccord Genuity cut the price target on CES Energy Solutions to $7.50 from $10.00.
CES shares dipped seven cents, or 1.2%, to $5.74.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Tamarack Valley Energy to hold from buy. Tamarack shares docked two cents to $2.12.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in Canada picked up in June. The seasonally-adjusted annual rate of housing starts in June came in at 212,695 units, up from 194,955 units in May. Economists had expected the annual rate to come in at 200,000.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 1.6 points to 750.94.
Six of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, as health-care and consumer staples were each boosted 0.6%, while information technology inched up 0.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by telecoms and energy, each deducting 0.2%, and financials, off 0.1%. Real-estate shares were unchanged Tuesday.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities slipped on Tuesday as investors weighed the possibility of higher sovereign bond yields.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 1.91 points to 21,406.61, with IBM contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 gave back 2.14 points to 2,425.29, with financials leading decliners.
The NASDAQ gained 9.45 points to 6,185.82
In corporate news, Amazon.com held its annual Prime day, which features big deals for Amazon's Prime customers.
Wall Street also geared up for the start of earnings season. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are among the companies set to report later this week.
Treasury yields have risen sharply over the past month amid hawkish central-bank rhetoric. In that time period, the benchmark 10-year note yield has climbed to around 2.38% from approximately 2.2%.
Four Federal Reserve officials are slated to speak Tuesday, including Gov. Lael Brainard and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari. The speeches will lead up to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's testimony Wednesday.
The Fed has raised rates twice this year and is expected to hike once more before 2017 ends. The central bank has also signaled its desire to start unwinding its massive $4.5-trillion balance sheet.
In economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business small business optimism index slipped to 103.6 in June from 104.5 in May.
Moreover, wholesale inventories rose 0.4%in May, marking their biggest gain in five months. Meanwhile, job openings decreased to 5.7 million in May, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were unchanged Tuesday, keeping yields at Monday’s 2.38%.
Oil prices docked two cents to $44.38 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slumped $2.80 to $1,213.50 U.S. an ounce.
