Canada's main stock index fell on Monday, led by the materials and energy sectors as oil prices slipped and with investors cautious ahead of a U.S. central bank meeting later this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slumped 49.64 points to open the week at 15,661.69
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.03 cents at 76.39 cents U.S.
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec, one of Canada's biggest public pension funds, has relied on private equity firms to invest in leveraged corporate buyouts. Now it is building its own investing team to depend less on buyout firms as middle men.
Cenovus Energy is seeking a partner to fund $1.3 billion in costs to build the supporting infrastructure at its Narrows Lake oil sands project in Alberta, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Cenovus backpedaled two cents to $11.05.
RBC raised the rating on AutoCanada Inc. to outperform from sector perform. AutoCanada shares soared $1.65, or 8%, to $22.30.
CIBC cut the price target on Enbridge to $60.00 from $63.00. Enbridge retreated 41 cents, or 1%, to $40.87.
CIBC cut the price target on TransCanada Corp. to $76.00 from $77.00, TransCanada shares lost 49 cents to $55.38
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 6.42 points to 840.09
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground, with materials shying away 0.8%, while telecoms and energy slid 0.5% each.
The three gainers were health-care, stronger by 1.1%, consumer staples, improving 0.3%, and real-estate, edging up 0.1%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks pulled back on Monday as investors cast a wary eye at Washington following a Twitter tirade from President Donald Trump over the weekend. A decline in tech shares also pressured the broad indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 216.96 points to 24,729.55, with Caterpillar as the worst-performing stock in the index.
The S&P 500 doffed 21.73 points to 2,730.51, with tech sliding 1.4%. Facebook was the worst-performing stock in the broad index, sliding 4.8%.
The NASDAQ composite Index slouched 84.71 points, or 1.1%, to 7,397.76
Facebook fell 4.8% after reports said political analytics firm Cambridge Analytica was able to collect data on 50 million people's profiles without their consent. Cambridge Analytica worked on Facebook ads with President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016.
On Sunday morning, Trump accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller of hiring "hardened Democrats" to probe alleged ties between his 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Mueller is a Republican who has held appointments under Democratic and GOP presidents.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates on Wednesday with new Fed chief Jerome Powell giving his first press conference. Market expectations for a March rate hike were at 94.4% as of Monday morning
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell back, raising yields to 2.86% from Friday’s 2.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices backtracked 31 cents a barrel to $62.03 U.S.
Gold prices nosed up 30 cents to $1,312.60 U.S. an ounce.
