Toronto's main stock index underwent a slight drop at Monday's open, in line with global markets, as disappointing U.S. jobs data on Friday, followed by softer-than-expected Chinese inflation data, fueled worries about the health of the global economy.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index deferred 52.81 points to begin the week at 11,607.15
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.06 cents at 97.92 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch this morning, Thomson Reuters Corp. will buy FX Alliance Inc, which runs a foreign exchange trading portal, for about $625 million in cash
PetroBakken Energy Ltd. said its average production rose 10% in the second quarter and the company said it expects production growth to continue in the second half of the year, with about 75% of its planned wells yet to be drilled.
Precious metals whiz North American Palladium Ltd. said it expects commercial production at its Vezza gold mine in Quebec to be delayed and is exploring options to sell the mine.
Bombardier Aerospace said Sunday a new customer, which it did not identify, has placed a conditional order for five CS100 and 10 CS300 jetliners.
Bolivia will consider nationalizing South American Silver Corp.'s silver property, President Evo Morales said on Sunday, following violent indigenous protests against the mining project.
Teck Resources Ltd. said unionized employees at its Cardinal River mines in Alberta have ratified a five-year agreement, resulting in an after-tax charge in the third quarter.
Four potential buyers, including Prudential Plc and Manulife, have made it through to a second stage of bidding for Aviva's insurance business in Malaysia in a deal worth about $500 million.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked ahead 3.06 points to 1,214.41. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 2.20 points to 354.69.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower to start the day. Metals and mining tailed off 1.8%, while global base metals slid 1.5% and energy stocks faded 0.9%.
The three gainers proved to be information technology, up 0.5%, telecoms, inching up 0.2%, and utilities, fairly flat at 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were mixed at Monday's open, as investors remained wary ahead of quarterly corporate results and another euro-zone meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials settled 63.73 points to open at 12,708.34
The S&P 500 shrank 5.15 points to 1,349.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index erased 12.60 points to 2,924.73.
Aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa becomes the first company to report its second-quarter results after Monday's close. Results are due later in the week from search giant Google and banking leaders JPMorgan and Wells Fargo
Overall, analysts are expecting underwhelming corporate results, with earnings dropping off compared to the first quarter.
Shares of health care provider Amerigroup soared 38% after the company announced it would be acquired by WellPoint for $4.9 billion U.S. The deal comes less than a month after last month's U.S. Supreme Court health reform decision, which will change the landscape of the country's health care system.
After the closing bell, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect Alcoa to report earnings of five cents U.S. a share, down from 32 cents U.S. a year earlier, on $5.8 billion U.S. in revenue.
Finance ministers from euro-zone countries are starting a two-day meeting Monday to hammer out details about how money from the European Stability Mechanism can be used to bail out troubled banks in struggling euro-zone nations.
Early Monday, the yield on the 10-year Spanish bond rose above 7% again -- a level that Spain's prime minister has previously called unsustainable.
Meanwhile, China's consumer price index rose at a modest 2.2% annual rate in June. The lower inflation rate serves as yet another signal of a global slowdown.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Federal Reserve will release data on consumer credit for May at 3 p.m. ET. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com expect consumer credit to have expanded by $9.5 billion U.S. for the month, after growing by $6.5 billion U.S. in April.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a little bit of ground, pushing the yield down to 1.53% from 1.54% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery inched up five cents to $84.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $5.60 to $1,584.50 U.S. an ounce.
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