Canada’s main stock index slipped on Monday, with its heavyweight energy companies falling as U.S. crude prices came off two-year highs, while ecommerce company Shopify Inc gained as the holiday shopping season kicked off.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 56.82 points to greet noon at 16,093.56
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.21 cents to 78.45 cents U.S.
Pipeline company Enbridge Inc was off 1.8% at $46.53 and producer Canadian Natural Resources Ltd fell 2% to $43.18.
Shopify was up 4.6% at $148.78, after saying that it processed more than $1 million in sales a minute for its merchants at the peak of Black
Friday shopping activity.
Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd rose 4.4% to $18.44 after Desjardins raised the stock to a “buy” recommendation and increased its price target for the stock to $24.
Hudson’s Bay Co was down 1% at $11.20 after the retailer said almost two-thirds of its shareholders support Rhone Capital’s $500-million investment, which is opposed by activist fund Land and Buildings LLC.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.03 points to 794.04
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided as gold brightened 0.7%, while information technology took on 0.5%, and health-care strengthened 0.3%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy, plummeting 2.2%, while industrials and materials each surrendered 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
American stocks were mixed by noon, as retail stocks continued to make their mark.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained afloat 32.53 points to pause for lunch at 23,590.52
The S&P 500 gave back 0.87 points to 2,601.58
The NASDAQ Composite faded 10.9 points on top of Friday’s all-time high, to 6,878.25
E-commerce giant Amazon got a positive nod from investors following Black Friday, as its stock climbed nearly 2% to a record high.
Investors also cheered some traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Shares of Best Buy rose more than 1%, while shares J.C. Penney gained 0.8%.
The S&P 500, Dow and NASDAQ rose to record highs in early trade. However, gains in the major indexes were capped as investors looked ahead to a key vote on tax reform set for later this week.
The Senate is expected to vote on a bill aimed at reforming the U.S. tax code on Thursday. Investors have been eagerly awaiting tax reform since last year's election, but doubts about whether the Republican-led Congress would be able to achieve this before year-end have lingered.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained back lost ground, yields to 2.35% from Friday’s 2.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped a dollar a barrel to $58.97 U.S.
Gold prices gained $8.30 to $1,295.60 U.S. an ounce.
