Equity markets gave it the old college try, but couldn’t rouse themselves above the breakeven level Tuesday, owing to weakness in consumer discretionary and energy issues.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index backpedaled 25.41 points – off its lows of the day -- to close Tuesday at 15,216.47
The Canadian dollar retreated 0.08 cents to 79.41 cents U.S.
Consumer discretionaries weighed matters down Tuesday, as Shopify plummeted $2.33, or 1.5%, to $158.72, while Magna International deducted 46 cents to $67.72.
Utilities didn’t emerge unscathed, either, as Fortis Inc. dropped 50 cents, or 1.2%, to $40.71.
Among energy companies, Baytex Energy fell back in price 14 cents, or 4.3% to $3.14, while Crew Energy settled 12 cents, or 6.3%, to $1.80. They were among the biggest decliners on the index.
In the tech world, BlackBerry gathered two cents to $14.84, while Constellation Software grew $5.62 to $799.20.
Copper futures rose 2.2% to $6,985 U.S. a tonne.
Among materials, First Quantum ballooned $1.45, or 7.7%, to $20.22.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 3.88 points to 821.18
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative on the day, with consumer discretionary stocks down 0.9%, utilities off 0.8%, and energy diving 0.7%
The two gainers were information technology, up 0.8, while materials advanced 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks posted a three-day winning streak on Tuesday as the major averages continued to recover from the correction levels reached last week.
The Dow Jones industrial average came from out of the red Tuesday to gain 39.18 points to 24,640.45, after falling as much as 180.24 points. Goldman Sachs and 3M were the biggest contributor of gains to the 30-stock index, both rising 0.9%
The S&P 500 recovered 6.94 points to 2,662.94, with financials among the best-performing sectors. Wells Fargo was the best-performing stock in the financials sector, rising 2.6%. Tech, meanwhile, rose 0.3% after trading lower earlier in the session.
The NASDAQ moved positive 31.55 points to 7,013.51, with shares of Nvidia and Amazon both climbing about 2%.
The indexes closed higher for the third day in a row, bouncing back from correction levels seen last week. On Thursday, the Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all closed at least 10% below record highs set last month.
In corporate news, Amazon is reportedly ramping up its medical supply business, sending shares of hospital suppliers lower. Cardinal Health, McKesson and Owens & Minor all fell at least 1.9%.
Elsewhere, shares of AmerisourceBergen soared more than 9% after the Wall Street Journal reported that Walgreens Boots Alliance has reached out to the company about a takeover.
The latest reading on the Consumer Price Index is scheduled for release Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell slightly, raising yields to 2.84% from Monday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices retreated nine cents a barrel to $59.20 U.S.
Gold prices added $5.40 to $1,331.80 U.S. an ounce.
