Canada's main stock index managed to hold onto gains amassed throughout Monday, led by gains in tech and consumer staples stocks, ahead of a key report that could help guide Bank of Canada's interest rate policy.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its highs of the day, but was in the green 20.29 points to close Monday at 15,227.70
The Canadian dollar vaulted 0.41 cents at 78.71 cents U.S.
Consumer staples led the parade of winners, with Loblaw Companies sprinting $1.34, or 2.1%, to $65.45, while Metro Inc. gathered $1.22, or 3.1%, to $41.26.
Among tech concerns, Constellation Software picked $5.28 to $866.28.
Financials also carried their share of the load, as Sun Life Financial gained 34 cents to $51.87, while National Bank increased in price 68 cents, or 1.1%, to $60.14.
In health-care, Canopy Growth collapsed $1.97, or nearly 7%, to $25.76, while Aphria Inc. retreated 60 cents, or 5.9%, to $9.60,
In the gold sector, Victoria Gold faded 1.6% to 31 cents, while Kinross Gold dropped 45 cents, or 8.9%, to $4.59.
Energy stocks were bruised, as Kinder Morgan Canada tumbled $2.36, or 12.8% to $16.08, after the oil producer on Sunday suspended most work on a $7.4-billion oil pipeline expansion that has become the focus of protests.
Crescent Point Energy dipped two cents to $9.15, after private investment firm Cation Capital said it would nominate four candidates to the oil producer's board.
Folks familiar with the matter say talks to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement are not advanced enough for the United States, Mexico and Canada to announce a deal "in principle" at this month's Summit of the Americas in Lima
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 3.69 points to 765.46
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups remained positive on the day, with consumer staples up 1.6%, information technology soaring 0.8%, and financials up 0.5%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, trailing 2.7%, gold, off 1.2%, and energy, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed well off their session highs on Monday as shares of Amazon and Boeing rolled over. Traders said a report that FBI officers had raided the office of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer also fueled the late-day decline.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average still gained 46.34 points to close Monday at 23,979.10, with Merck and Intel as the best-performing stocks in the index.
The S&P 500 gained 8.69 points to 2,613.16, with tech surging 0.8%.
The NASDAQ Composite index remained in the green 35.23 points to 6,950.34
At its session high, the Dow rose as much as 440.42 points. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 gained as much as 1.9% and NASDAQ tacked on 2.3%.
Amazon shares had risen as much as 2.3% before closing just 0.1% higher. Boeing gained as much as 2.7% before ending the session down 1.1%
The New York Times reported the FBI raided Michael Cohen's office. Cohen is Trump's longtime personal lawyer.
In corporate news, Merck rose more than 6% after a committee determined Keytruda has helped previously untreated lung cancer patients live longer.
Facebook climbed 1.3% ahead of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony on Tuesday regarding the data scandal involving firm Cambridge Analytica.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday he does not expect a trade war between the U.S. and China to take place. Mnuchin made his comments after telling media outlets on Friday that a trade war between the two largest world economies was possible.
Last week, China announced fresh tariffs on 106 U.S. products, which then saw Trump going on to threaten more levies, saying that he had asked the United States Trade Representative to consider $100 billion in additional tariffs against the Asian nation.
The next corporate earnings season kicks off later in the week with financial companies BlackRock, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo all scheduled to release their quarterly results.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained back lost ground, lowering yields to Friday’s 2.78%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.25 a barrel to $63.31 U.S.
Gold prices recovered $5.00 to $1,341.10 U.S. an ounce.
