Stocks in Toronto traded lower Monday led by weakness in gold stocks while the price of oil retreated and financial issues moved higher.
The TSX Composite index shed 24.87 points to trade at 20,233.08.
Investors are looking ahead to the Canadian central bank’s policy meeting on Wednesday, when it is expected to ease its asset purchases again by C$1 billion to C$2 billion per week.
Vermilion Energy shares dipped 2.27% and Enerplus Corp stock was down 0.12%.
Oil futures traded sharply lower on Monday, with the U.S. benchmark down 1.7% at $73.35 a barrel.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.05 cents to 80.27 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.46 points to 938.93.
Four of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground during the session, with financial stocks higher by 0.55%, while health care issues edged 0.53% higher and telecoms rose 0.08%.
On the downside -- gold issues shed 1.26%, energy stocks dipped 1.18% and industrial issues gave back 0.83%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the U.S were higher Monday as Wall Street prepared for what is expected to be a busy earnings season, particularly for big U.S. banks as investors look for signs of an improving economy.
The Dow ended the day up about 126 points, or 0.4%, closing just below the 35,000 mark. The blue chips have now jumped more than 3% since the supposedly sleepy start of summer trading back in May.
The S&P 500 rose about 0.3% and the Nasdaq gained 0.2%, with both also notching fresh all-time highs. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are each up about 5% since the beginning of May.
In corporate news, Disney (DIS) was the best performer in the Dow Monday, gaining more than 4% following the strong box office numbers and solid streaming revenue for Marvel's "Black Widow" over the weekend.
Shares of Moderna Inc. were up 2.8% Monday after the company said it will supply 20 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Argentina.
Shares of SolarWinds Corp. were lower Monday, even after the information technology infrastructure management software company provided an upbeat second-quarter revenue outlook.
Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. fell around 17% Monday, a day after founder Richard Branson and five crewmates successfully flew suborbital space on the company’s VSS Unity rocket-powered spaceplane.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury slipped Monday to 1.334%.
Gold traded 1% lower at $1,793.60 an ounce.
