Stocks in Canada’s largest market opened barely higher on Monday, as gold miners and other materials stocks gained with higher prices for gold, copper and other metals.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved higher 24.96 points to begin the week at 15,199.77
The Canadian dollar nicked up 0.01 cents to 79.10 cents U.S.
Canada's fund managers are set to plow more money into shares of cyclical, industrial and technology companies as the Bank of Canada hikes interest rates, and to allocate a greater share of their bond portfolio to short-term corporate debt.
RBC cut the target price CRH Medical to $8.50 from $10. CRH shares improved six cents, or 1.3%, to $4.80.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada said foreign investment in Canadian securities amounted to $29.5 billion in May, mainly purchases of government debt instruments.
At the same time, Canadian investors increased their holdings of foreign securities by $4.4 billion, led by investments in U.S. debt instruments.
Elsewhere, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported Monday morning that the resale of Canadian homes fell 6.7% in June from May, the biggest monthly drop since 2010 and the third straight monthly decline as sales in Toronto plunged
The industry group said actual sales, not seasonally adjusted, slumped 11.4% from June 2016, while home prices surged 15.8% from a year earlier, according to the group's home price index.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.75 points to 760.27
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, as materials gained 1.6%, gold picked up 1.5%, and health-care advanced 1%.
The half-dozen laggards were led by industrials, down 0.3%, while consumer staples and consumer discretionary stocks each slid 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 gained ground, with consumer discretionary leading advancers and financials lagging.
The Dow Jones Industrials eked 1.56 points to 21,639.30, to notch a new record, with Apple contributing the most gains.
The S&P 500 gained 1.85 to 2,461.12, also at record levels it had not seen since June 19.
The NASDAQ added 14.33 points to 6,326.79
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Microsoft, Qualcomm and eBay are just a few of the companies scheduled to release quarterly results.
Asset manager BlackRock posted quarterly results earlier on Monday, missing analyst estimates on both revenue and profit. Netflix is set to report Monday after the close.
Overall earnings are expected to grow by 6.2% this quarter, according to experts. Earnings in the first quarter rose by approximately 15%
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground Monday, lowering yields to 2.32% from Friday’s 2.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices fell 12 cents to $46.42 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $7.30 to $1,234.80 U.S. an ounce.
