4The Toronto stock market made its way doggedly into the green Monday, even as a big disappointment in U.S. retail sales and a revision to Chinese growth expectations elevated worries about the global economy.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index pushed up 6.65 points, to close the day at 11,521.18, after spending much of the day in negative trading.
The Canadian dollar traded lower by 0.14 cents to 98.54 cents U.S.
The International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China’s slowing economy Monday and said a "hard landing" was still possible.
The IMF reduced its China growth outlook for 2012 by 0.2 percentage point to 8% and for 2013 by 0.3 points to 8.5%. Data released Friday showed that China’s second-quarter growth fell to a three-year low of 7.6% as exports, consumer spending and factory output weakened.
Commodity prices were mixed after sharp runups in oil and copper at the end of last week.
The energy sector was up as Canadian Natural Resources gained four cents to $26.45.
Investors bought into defensive stocks such as consumer staples. Shoppers Drug Mart improved by four cents to $41.66.
The base metals group declined as copper prices slipped two cents to $3.48 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources was 32 cents, or 1%, lower to $30.36.
The gold sector dropped, though Barrick Gold Corp. added a penny to $35.34.
Research In Motion Ltd. helped depress the tech sector. Its shares lost 25 cents, or 3.4%, to $7.10 after a California jury ordered the troubled BlackBerry maker to pay $147.2million U.S. to Delaware-based Mformation Technologies in a patent lawsuit. RIM said it is "disappointed" and is "evaluating all legal options."
The consumer discretionary segment was also weak with Tim Hortons stock down $1.27, or 2.4%, to $52.41.
In other corporate news, two Canadian real-estate trusts are teaming up with a 50-50 partnership that will redevelop or intensify some of their properties in downtown areas of major cities.
RioCan Real Estate and Allied Properties say they will work together to satisfy the growing demand for mixed-use properties in Canadian cities. RioCan units were up 25 cents to $28.35 while Allied units gained 52 cents to $29.50.
In economic matters, Statistics Canada revealed this morning that foreigners bought up a record $26.1 billion of Canadian securities in May, most of them government debt securities. Canadian investors made $1.3 billion purchase of foreign securities in the month, following a divestment in April.
Moreover, national resale housing activity dipped 1.3% last month over July, according to statistics released today by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 4.4% below levels in June 2011, marking the first year-over-year decline since April 2011.
CREA also said the number of newly listed homes climbed 1.4% from May to June. Price gains remained strong in Toronto, continued slowing in Greater Vancouver, and picked up in Calgary.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 3.61 points to 1,183.35. The Nasdaq Canada index slid 3.14 points to 341.99.
In all, 10 of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down, weighed mostly by metals and mining, off 2%, global base metals, down 1.2%, and consumer discretionary stocks, sinking 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by energy, gathering 0.8%, real-estate, improving 0.6%, and telecoms, up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were under mild pressure Monday as investors moved into Treasuries, sending the 10-year yield to a record low, following disappointing June retail sales data.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed weaker by 49.88 points to 12,727.20
The S&P 500 subtracted 3.82 points to 1,352.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index demurred 11.53 points to 2,896.94.
Concerns about the slowing U.S. economy sparked a flight into U.S. government debt, perceived as a safe haven. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell as low as 1.44% Monday, a new intraday record.
Fears were triggered by a weaker-than-expected report on retail sales.
Meanwhile, investors also kept a close eye on news from the corporate front, with earnings reports out in full swing this week. Citigroup kicked off the busy week by topping analysts' forecasts, even as its quarterly revenue declined 10% from a year earlier and fell short of estimates.
Citi's earnings follows results from JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, which both reported Friday.
Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson and a slew of tech firms, including Yahoo, Google, Intel and Microsoft will all be reporting this week.
And anxiety remains over the European debt crisis. Investors are concerned that political headwinds in Europe will stymie the latest rescue plan for the euro currency union, which euro-zone leaders announced at a summit late last month.
Shares of biopharmaceutical company Human Genome Sciences rose, as rival GlaxoSmithKlein acquired the company for $14.25 U.S. a share, or $3.6 billion U.S. In April, GSK had offered to buy the company for $13 U.S. a share, or $2.6 billion U.S., but Human Genome rejected that offer.
Nokia shares fell after the cell phone company said it would slash the price of its flagship smartphone in the United States.
The cost of the Lumia 900 will drop to $49.99 U.S., as the company struggles to gain ground against the more popular Apple and Samsung.
Shares of Visa and MasterCard advanced, following an announcement late Friday that the credit card companies had settled a massive antitrust case with merchants.
Economically speaking, retail sales for June came in weak, dropping 0.5% from the previous month and bucking economists' expectations for a 0.2% increase. Nearly every sector took a hit, from furniture and electronics shops to gas stations and sporting goods stores.
Elsewhere, the Empire Manufacturing survey for New York State rose to 7.4 in July, from 2.3 the prior month. Economists were expecting a reading of 3.8.
Business inventories rose 0.3% in May, according to data from the Census Bureau. Economists were expecting inventories to rise 0.2% from the prior month.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury jumped, pushing the yield down to 1.46% from Friday’s 1.50%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery gained $1.11 to $87.10 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell 40 cents to settle at $1,591.60 U.S. an ounce
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