Equities in Canada’s largest market opened modestly higher on Monday, boosted by higher global markets and as gains in the heavyweight energy sector helped offset weakness among gold producers.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 29.84 points to open the day and the week at 15,607.65
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.05 cents to 78 cents U.S.
Thomson Reuters says it’s been assigned to track and analyze chatter about bitcoin on hundreds of news and social media websites to help investors looking for an edge in trading the world's biggest cryptocurrency.
Thomson shares acquired six cents to $51.82
Taking a page from its aggressive growth strategy in the United States, fertilizer giant Nutrien plans to plow investment into Brazil in a bid to reap up to 30% of farm supply sales in fertile pockets of the country.
Nutrien – the amalgam of the former Agrium and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan – said its shares dropped 52 cents to $66.27.
Britain has thrown financial support for the first time behind exports of Bombardier CSeries jets part-built by Northern Ireland workers caught up in a recent trade row.
Bombardier shares fell half a cent to $3.745.
BMO cut the target price on Total Energy Services to $16.00 from $17.00. Total shares
Raymond James cut the target price on Detour Gold to $20.00 from $21.00
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange crept up 0.31 points to start Monday at 829.21
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive, with energy moving up 0.4%, consumer discretionary stocks ahead 0.3%, and consumer staples better by 0.2%.
The three laggards were gold and health-care, each down 0.2%, and information technology, sliding 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 moving closer to erasing the losses from last month's correction.
The Dow gained 38.58 points to 25,374.32, with Goldman Sachs rising to an all-time high.
The S&P 500 gained 5.92 points to 2,792.48, with consumer discretionary leading advancers.
The NASDAQ composite Index moved forward 34.47 points to 7,595.29, an intraday record as Apple recovered its losses from the correction.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet next week, with most market participants expecting the central bank to raise interest rates.
Market expectations for a March rate hike stood at 86% on Monday
In corporate news, Andrew Liveris will step down from his post as executive chairman at DowDuPont in April. Jeff Fettig, co-lead independent director at DowDuPont, will take over the role upon Liveris' departure.
Analysts at Jefferies said in a note Monday that Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One" movie could be a catalyst for both Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. In a note to clients, they said: "We believe that the movie will drive sales of VR headsets that require high-performance GPUs from NVDA and AMD."
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were unchanged, keeping yields at Friday’s 2.89%.
Oil prices dropped 64 cents a barrel to $61.40 U.S.
Gold prices subtracted seven dollars to $1,317.00 U.S. an ounce.
