Equities in Toronto fell on Monday as losses for the industrial and materials groups offset gains for financial shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index descended 26.37 points to greet Monday at 16,327.09
The Canadian dollar gained 0.22 cents at 80.3 cents U.S.
The industrials group declined as railroad shares lost ground. Canadian Pacific Railway, which reported fourth-quarter results last week, dropped 2.3% to $227.97 and Canadian National Railway was down 1.4% at $99.58.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost ground as Teck Resources declined 3.1% to $35.64.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Home Capital Group, which rose 9.2% after TD Securities raised its target price on the stock to $21 from $17.
The overall financial services group, which accounts for more than one-third of the TSX’s weight, rose slightly. It was helped by gains for some of the country’s major banks, with Toronto-Dominion Bank advancing 0.9% to $74.76.
Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume was Aurora Cannabis, which rose 5% to $14.16 after media reported on Friday that the marijuana producer is in talks to buy CanniMed Therapeutics and Newstrike Resources in a friendly deal.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported wholesale trade for November rose 0.7% to $63.6 billion in November, a second consecutive increase. Sales were up in six of seven sub-sectors, representing 99% of wholesale sales
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 9.53 points to 889.97
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as industrials gave back 1.1%, materials slumped 0.9% and consumer discretionary stocks dropped 0.7%
The four gainers were energy stocks, climbing 0.3%, financials, inching up 0.2%, and consumer staples, eking up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ composite reached record highs on Monday as Wall Street shrugged off the first U.S. government shutdown since 2013.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 43.78 points to 26,115.50.
The S&P 500 improved 12.22 points to 2,822.52, with energy and telecommunications as the best-performing sectors
The NASDAQ added 50. 11 points to 7,386.49, as Netflix shares rose 2.6% to a record high.
On Monday, Halliburton reported better-than-expected earnings, sending the company's shares up 3.7%.
Netflix and TD Ameritrade are scheduled to report quarterly earnings after the bell Monday.
Elsewhere in corporate news, Twitter shares fell 1% amid media reports that executive Anthony Noto has been offered the CEO job at Social Finance.
The calendar fourth-quarter earnings season is off to a good start. As of Friday, 68% of the S&P 500 companies that had reported surpassed earnings expectations, while 85% of those companies had beaten sales estimates.
On Saturday, the U.S. government shut down after a bill that would have kept government funded through mid-February was voted against in the Senate. The shutdown continued for a third day after the Senate on Sunday failed to reach an agreement to break an impasse before the work week began in Washington.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.65% from Friday’s 2.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 45 cents a barrel to $63.82 U.S.
Gold prices slipped 70 cents to $1,332.40 U.S. an ounce.
