The Toronto stock market was lower Monday as buying sentiment continued to take a hit from Friday’s disappointing jobs data, as well as word from the International Monetary Fund that it was downgrading its economic forecast.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came off its lows for the day, but still finished 25.29 points below breakeven to 11,634.67
The Canadian dollar regained 0.14 cents at 98.12 cents U.S.
The base metals sector was down as the September copper contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange edged up a penny to $3.41 U.S. a pound following an eight-cent fall. Teck Resources declined 90 cents, or 2.8%, to $31.02.
The energy sector was off as Suncor Energy gave back 26 cents to $29.10
The gold sector shed strength as Iamgold faded three cents to $11.49.
The industrials sector lost ground, even after transportation giant Bombardier Inc. said Sunday that it received a conditional order valued at about $1 billion for 15 of the new C-Series aircraft the company aims to begin delivering by the end of next year.
At the same time, Guy Hachey, the president of Bombardier Aerospace, said on Sunday that difficulties with flight control systems could affect the timeline for the maiden flight later this year. Its shares were unchanged on the day to $4.04.
In other corporate developments, Canadian biotechnology company QLT Inc. is cutting its workforce by two-thirds, leaving it with 68 employees. The Vancouver-based company had been one of Canada’s most successful biotechnology firms based on its treatment for age-related blindness.
But sales of Visudyne have fallen and QLT has struggled in recent years to find another commercially successful product. QLT shares gave back a penny to $7.69.
On the acquisition front, Thomson Reuters Inc. shares also eased a penny to $29.02 after the information provider made a friendly $625-million U.S. offer to buy FX Alliance, a company that provide foreign exchange trading technology.
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde didn’t mention exactly how much her organization would trim from its earlier forecast.
But the jobs data and Lagarde’s warning were enough to further persuade traders that economic growth is faltering around the globe.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked ahead 0.63 points to 1,211.98. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 6.47 points to 350.42.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on the day. Metals and mining faded 2.5%, while global base metals slid 1.7% and information technology retreated 1.3%.
The lone three stalwarts were consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.3%, telecoms, up 0.2%, and real-estate issues, nosing ahead 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks skidded Monday, as investors remained wary ahead of quarterly corporate results and another euro-zone meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials settled 36.18 points to 12,736.30, also off its lows of the day.
The S&P 500 lopped off 2.04 points to 1,352.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index erased 5.56 points to 2,931.77.
Industrial and energy shares led the declines, with Chevron, DuPont, Caterpillar and Exxon Mobil all down between 1% and 2%.
After 63 out of 103 companies lowered projections for earnings, investors are growing increasingly nervous about what Corporate America will say when second quarter earnings season unofficially kicks off, with aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa reporting after the market close Monday.
Overall, analysts are expecting underwhelming corporate results, with earnings dropping off compared to the first quarter.
Results are due later in the week from search giant Google and banking leaders JPMorgan and Wells Fargo
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.
Shares of Campbell Soup dropped after the company announced it would acquire organic juice maker Bolthouse Farms for $1.55 billion U.S.
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.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a little bit of ground, pushing the yield down to 1.51% from 1.54% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery gained 42 cents to $85.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $10 to $1,588.90 U.S. an ounce.
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