Equity markets were higher approaching midday Monday as mining stocks rose on the back of climbing gold prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 20.46 points to greet noon at 15,434.75
The Canadian dollar took on 0.36 cents to 77.10 cents U.S.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday warned against threats to punish it over last week's disappearance of Khashoggi, as European leaders piled on pressure and two more U.S. executives scrapped plans to attend a Saudi investor conference.
Top percentage gainers on the TSX were led by shares of gold miners. Iamgold soared 10 cents, or 2%, to $5.20, while Endeavour Mining surged 71 cents, or 3.4%, to $21.38.
BlackBerry fell 23 cents, or 1.8%, to $12.26, followed by shares of Descartes Systems, which shed $1.03, or 2.5%, to $39.88.
The Bank of Canada said Canadian business optimism remained at near record-levels in the third quarter, with companies reporting rising pressure on capacity, labour and prices amid signs of stronger sales.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said Monday actual (not seasonally-adjusted) home re-sales dipped 8.9% in September from the same month a year earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 8.19 points, or 1.2%, to 706.79
The 12 subgroups were divided neatly between gainers and losers, with health-care muscling up 4.4%, gold better by 2.1%, and communications up 1%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by information technology, slumping 1.4%, financials, sliding 0.4%, and energy, slipping 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
A drop in tech shares pushed the NASDAQ Composite lower on Monday as Wall Street tried to regain its footing after last week's sharp losses.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 94.78 points, to move in to lunch hour at 25,434.77
The S&P 500 marched into the green 3.71 points to 2,770.84, as tech lagged
The NASDAQ came off its lows of the morning, but still trailed Friday’s close by 13.12 points to 7,483.77
The tech-heavy index fell as Apple and Netflix pulled back more than 1% each. Netflix fell after Raymond James slashed its price target on the video-streaming giant. Apple dropped after Goldman Sachs said the tech giant's earnings could fall short this year as demand in China slows.
Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet also traded lower.
The major indexes registered their worst weekly losses since March last week as interest rates jumped to multiyear highs.
Both the S&P 500 and Dow dropped more than 4% last week. The NASDAQ fell 3.7%. The S&P 500 also posted a third consecutive weekly loss, its longest such streak since June 2016.
Those declines were largely led by technology stocks, which had their worst week since March after falling 3.8% as a sector.
The recent moves come as the latest corporate earnings season kicks into high gear. Netflix, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble and Honeywell are among the companies scheduled to release third-quarter earnings this week.
Expectations for this earnings season are high. Analysts polled by FactSet expect third-quarter S&P 500 profits to have expanded by 19% on a year-over-year basis.
In data, retail sales rose just 0.1% in September. Economists expected a gain of 0.6%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury lost their early strength, sending yields back up to Friday’s 3.16%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 31 cents at $71.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $8.20 to $1,230.20 U.S. an ounce.
