The Toronto stock market was slightly higher Tuesday afternoon amid mixed earnings news and rising commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index recovered 30.38 points to close Tuesday at 12,824.63
The Canadian dollar gained 0.04 cents to 100.66 cents U.S.
Canadian National Railway says its profit increased to $610 million in the fourth quarter with record revenue and carloads. CN also raised its dividend 15% to 43 cents a share. Its shares dropped $1.01 to $93.75 despite the positive earnings report but analysts note CN stock has done very well lately.
Traders will also take in results Tuesday from Google, IBM and Celestica.
The information technology sector found its way into positive territory, with Celestica Inc. flat at $8.50 ahead of its earnings statement after the market close.
But Research In Motion gained 31 cents to $17.72 after jumping 10.8% Monday as the BlackBerry maker heads towards the unveiling of its new smartphones on Jan. 30. Scotia Capital has upgraded the stock to outperform from sector perform.
Financials were also weak, though TD Bank recovered five cents to $83.47.
The gold sector was among the strongest components, as Barrick Gold Corp. rose 39 cents to $34.53.
The base metals sector proved the strongest gainer as the March copper contract in New York climbed three cents at $3.71 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gained 61 cents to $37.51.
Inmet Mining Corp. said a number of parties have expressed an interest in offering an alternative to the hostile $5.1-billion takeover proposed by First Quantum Minerals.
Inmet says several parties whom it did not identify are examining confidential information and discussions are ongoing. Inmet says its shareholders should reject First Quantum’s offer of about $72 per Inmet share.
Inmet shares rose 35 cents to $71.29 while First Quantum edged 41 cents lower to $20.92.
The energy sector was also flat while Canadian Natural Resources gave back 25 cents to $30.19.
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has approved a new route for the Keystone XL pipeline that avoids the state’s environmentally-sensitive Sandhills region. Heineman sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama confirming that he would allow the Canada-to-Texas pipeline, which is to be built by TransCanada, to proceed through his state.
TransCanada shares declined 33 cents to $48.78.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that retail sales ran their winning streak to five straight months in November, improving 0.2% to $39.4 billion, as higher sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers as well as electronics and appliance stores more than offset declines at most store types.
StatsCan added that, in volume terms, retail sales rose 0.8%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.47 points to 1,241.07
Laggards nosed out gainers eight to six among of the 14 Toronto subgroups. Health-care stocks dipped 0.5%, while industrials fell 0.4%, and telecoms sank 0.3%.
The half-dozen gainers were led north by global base metals, ahead 1.2%, while gold glowed 1.1% brighter and materials were 0.9% more solid.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks gained ground Tuesday afternoon, with the Dow and S&P 500 rising to fresh five-year highs amid mostly strong earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 62.43 points to adjourn at 13,712.50, while the S&P 500 took 6.51 points to 1,492.49, advancing once again to the highest levels since December 2007. The two indexes have been hitting fresh highs since the start of the year.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite recouped 8.47 points to 3,143.18, fueled by an 11% jump in shares of Research in Motion. The BlackBerry maker's stock has been gaining on the hype surrounding the launch of BlackBerry 10 later this month.
The Dow's gains were led by a 2.5% gain in shares of Travelers after the company's fourth-quarter profit beat estimates. Shares of DuPont also rose sharply after the company reported better-than-expected earnings and issued an upbeat outlook, helping boost the blue-chip index.
Western Digital was the strongest performer in the S&P 500. The data storage provider, which is slated to report earnings Wednesday, said it is expanding its products to address the small and medium-sized businesses.
Dell was also a big gainer on the tech-heavy index following reports that Microsoft was in talks with private equity firm Silver Lake Partners and Dell CEO Michael Dell to invest $1 billion to 3 billion U.S. in buyout of the PC maker, citing sources close to the matter.
On the downside, Johnson & Johnson shares edged lower after the company reported earnings and sales that were roughly in line with estimates
Verizon reported a wider quarterly loss ahead of the open, but shares gained ground. Wireless carriers are expected to have a rough quarter as profit margins get dinged by high subsidies paid to Apple for the iPhone 5.
Google and IBM are on tap to report after the market close.
Economically speaking, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said existing home sales declined in December to an annual rate of 4.94 million from the previous month, which was a surprise as analysts were expecting sales to tick higher.
Despite the surprise month-over-month decline, overall existing home sales in 2012 were the highest for the U.S. real estate market in five years, according to the industry trade group.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury were flat, keeping yields at Friday’s 1.84%.
Oil prices strengthened 57 cents to $96.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices improved $4.60 to $1,691.50 U.S. an ounce.
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