Canada's main stock index were in the red by midday Tuesday, pressured by industrial shares as Canadian National tumbled after it offered to buy railroad operator Kansas City Southern for $30 billion.
The TSX hurtled lower 104.92 points to begin Tuesday’s trading session at 19,099.50.
The Canadian dollar poked ahead 0.03 cents to 79.88 cents U.S.
A report in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday said CN plans to make a $30-billion bid for railroad operator Kansas City Southern. CN shares plummeted $9.65 or 6.5%, to $138.51, easily the worst performer on the index.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Spin Master, which jumped 61 cents, or 1.5%, to $40.90 and Altus Group, up $1.98, or 3.2%, to $64.00.
Cormark Securities initiates coverage on Boat Rocker Media with a buy rating, and a price target of $13.00. Boat Rocker shares were unchanged at $8.80.
CIBC raised the target price on Emera to $58.00 from $57.00. Emera gained 33 cents to $57.11.
RBC cuts the rating on PrairieSky Royalty to sector perform from outperform. PrairieSky slid 70 cents, or 5%, to $13.19.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dished off 6.46 points to 922.71.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly split with energy docking 2.2%, industrials skidding 1.9%, and health-care ailing 1.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were lifted most by gold, brighter 0.8%, materials, ahead 0.4%, and consumer staples, 0.2% to the good.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell for a second day on Tuesday as strong corporate earnings failed to boost a market already near record highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials resumed tumbled 292.75 points to head into lunch time Tuesday at 33,784.88, as Boeing and Nike both dropped more than 4%.
The S&P 500 deleted 36.95 points to 4,126.81.
The NASDAQ Composite plummeted 161.4 points, or 1.2%, to 13,753.36.
Reopening plays such as airlines and cruise line operators led losses on Tuesday. United Airlines plunged 9% after the carrier reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss and said that business and international travel recovery is still far off. American Airlines fell 6%, while Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean all traded about 4% lower.
The selloff in shares that are tied to a successful reopening came as the World Health Organization warned that global coronavirus infections were edging toward their highest level in the pandemic. In the U.S., while the country is maintaining a pace of three million reported vaccinations per day, about 67,100 daily new infections are still being recorded.
The first-quarter earnings season got off to a strong start last week as the major U.S. banks reported blowout numbers. Financials earnings have topped expectations by 38%, while others in the S&P 500 have surprised to the upside by 12%, according to data from Credit Suisse.
Procter & Gamble shares were flat even after the consumer giant reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations with pandemic home-care trends lingering and beauty sales picking up.
Johnson & Johnson shares gained 1% following better-than-expected earnings and revenue. The company also reported $100 million in first-quarter sales of its Covid-19 vaccine that’s on hold in the U.S. while health regulators investigate a rare blood-clotting issue.
Another Dow component, Travelers Companies, rose slightly after quarterly results that topped Wall Street’s estimates. The company also raised its quarterly cash dividend and approved an additional $5 billion of share buybacks.
Tesla rebounded slightly after dropping more than 3% in the previous session as bitcoin — which makes up some of Tesla’s balance sheet— tanked over the weekend after hitting an all-time high of $64,841 Wednesday morning, according to data from Coin Metrics.
Streaming giant Netflix is slated to release numbers after the bell. Wall Street analysts expected Netflix to remain a winner in the streaming space even as the pandemic recovery improves
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained, lowering yields to 1.56% from Monday’s 1.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 99 cents to $62.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $8.30 to $1,778.90 U.S. an ounce.