The Toronto stock market looked set to start the trading week little changed as traders look to a busy week of economic data and corporate earnings and a major acquisition in the U.S. by Hudson's Bay Co.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 21.24 points to close Friday at 12,647.90
The Canadian dollar increased 0.09 cents to 97.33 cents U.S. early Monday
HBC is buying luxury retailer Saks Inc. in a friendly deal worth US$2.9 billion, paying $16 U.S. per Saks share plus assumed debt.
HBC plans to keep Saks as a separate unit headquartered in New York and introduce the brand in Canada through online and other formats. HBC’s other holdings include The Bay and Lord & Taylor in the U.S.
Meanwhile, traders looked to a flood of quarterly earnings during this week from a group of miners and energy companies. Expectations are low since these companies have suffered from low prices for oil and metals.
Miners reporting this week include Lundin Mining and uranium miner Cameco.
It's a very heavy week for energy company earnings with Canadian Oil Sands, Talisman Energy, Suncor Energy and Imperial Oil posting results.
September copper edged up a penny to $3.12 U.S. a pound
The Toronto market ended last week slightly lower after four consecutive positive weeks amid earnings misses and some profit taking from a big runup in gold and base metal stocks during late June and July. The TSX moved down 37 points or 0.3% lower, leaving the main index up 2.02% year to date.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 2.59 points Friday to 923.81
ON WALLSTREET
Investors in the States will have dozens of corporate earnings reports to sort through Monday as they await news on interest rates and the labour market later in the week.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Industrials backtracked 24 points, or 0.2%, to 15,474. Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 3.80 points, or 0.2%, to 1,682.80, and futures for the NASDAQ dipped 5.5 points, or 0.2%, to 3,065.
There were two major mergers for investors to weigh Monday. Omnicom Group and Publicis Groupe announced a deal to form the world's largest advertising agency. Shares of both companies were higher in pre-market trading.
And U.S. over-the-counter drugmaker Perrigo announced an $8.6-billion U.S. deal for Irish drugmaker Elan, a cash and stock deal that pays about a 26% premium for Elan shareholders.
Simon Properties and Wynn Resorts both reported improved quarterly earnings, although Wynn fell short of forecasts while Simon beat estimates. Hartford Financial and Express Scripts are on tap to report after the close.
Also after the bell, Herbalife, the multi-level marketing company that hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has attacked as a pyramid scheme, will release its second-quarter earnings.
On Wednesday, investors get a report on the nation's economic growth in the second quarter and the Federal Reserve concludes its two-day meeting. On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department will release its July jobs report.
All those events have the potential to move the market sharply in one direction or the other, leaving investors a bit wary of making big bets in this part of the week.
In Europe, markets jumped at the open but then backtracked slightly. The main indexes are still holding onto modest gains in morning trading.
Asian markets ended in the red, with Japan's Nikkei 225 index leading the way. The Nikkei declined by 3.3% Monday, and has lost roughly 7% over the past five trading days. Japanese equity markets have been volatile since hitting a peak in May.
Oil prices climbed 24 cents to $104.94 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $16 to $1,337.60 U.S. an ounce.
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