Equities in Toronto dipped a bit at the opening Monday, as investors digested economic news from the U.S., Spain and China.
The S&P/TSX composite index began Monday down 43.92 points to 12,158.12
The Canadian dollar nipped 0.02 cents to 102.19 cents U.S.
Stocks to watch this morning include Argonaut Gold Inc., which said it will buy Prodigy Gold Inc for about $341 million in cash and shares, at a premium of 54% based on both companies' 20-day volume-weighted average price as of Friday. Shares in Argonaut plummeted 75 cents soon after the opening bell to $9.73, a drop of 7.6%
Canadian National Railway Co.’s chief marketing officer said Friday the carrier should be able to ship twice as many carloads of crude oil in 2013 as it will this year. CN shares stalled 26 cents to $86.89.
On the economic beat, the average price of a Canadian home inched 1.1% higher to $355,777 in September, even as the number of homes sold fell sharply
The Canadian Real Estate Association's monthly sales data released Monday also show the volume of home sales across the country was 15.1% lower in September 2012 compared to the same month a year earlier.
CREA also said more than half of all local markets posted declines of at least 10%
Internationally, a 100-billion-euro aid request from Spain to its euro-zone partners would shave 1.5% off Italy's economic output, the finance minister in Rome was quoted as saying.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased 4.06 points to 1,288.75
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups lost ground as the day and week got started. Gold tailed off 1.4%, while materials slid 1.2% and energy lost 0.8%.
The four stalwarts were led by financials, up 0.2%, while information technology and utilities each inched up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks inched higher at the opening bell Monday, as investors digested the latest corporate earnings and economic data, including a sharp rise in retail sales.
The Dow Jones Industrial average opened 21.06 points, to 13,349.90
The S&P 500 reacquired 1.92 points to 1,430.51, while the tech-rich Nasdaq shaved off 0.05 points to 3,044.07
Shares of toy maker Hasbro fell more than 2% after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell. Goldman cited a sharp decline in the amount of money American consumers spend on toys and games. Shares of rival toy company Mattel also dipped.
Sprint Nextel said early Monday that it reached an agreement to sell a 70% stake to Japan's Softbank for $20.1 billion U.S. Shares of Sprint gained 1%, adding to last week's strong gains.
Media conglomerate Gannett and brokerage Charles Schwab both reported earnings that beat forecasts. Results are due later in the week from blue chip companies including Goldman Sachs, IBM and Intel .
On the earnings front, investors kicked off the week with quarterly results from Citigroup. The bank reported third-quarter earnings before the opening bell that topped forecasts.
Economically speaking, retail sales jumped 1.1% in September, boosted by higher gas prices and electronic sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's higher than the 0.7% rise expected by analysts.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's monthly Empire State Manufacturing Index remained in negative territory in October, but improved to a reading of -6.2 compared to a reading of -10.4 in September.
Overseas, a report Monday showed that inflation in China slowed in September. Chinese consumers paid 1.9% more for goods in September than they did a year earlier, the government's National Bureau of Statistics reported. That's down from a 2% increase in August.
The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notched down, raising the yield to 1.67% from 1.66% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped $1.40 to $90.48 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $14.50 to $1,745.20 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
