The Toronto stock market was slightly lower Monday while BlackBerry stock continued to sell off amid collapsing sales and commodities failed to benefit from strong manufacturing data out of China and Europe.
The S&P/TSX composite index slid 1.38 to greet noon ET at 12,805.09, with strength coming from the telecom sector as the major domestic players put down a deposit to take part in Canada's next wireless spectrum auction in January but there were no foreign participants.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.20 cents to 97.21 cents U.S.
BlackBerry shares were down 38 cents, or 4.2%, to $8.70 after plunging more than 16% Friday after the Waterloo, Ont.-based company warned of a huge second-quarter loss of almost $1 billion amid plunging sales of its new smartphones. It's also slashing about 4,500 jobs. BlackBerry releases its quarterly results Friday.
Monday's further deterioration in BlackBerry's stock price came amid a number of downgrades, including RBC Capital Markets which cut the stock to underperform from sector perform.
On the TSX, the telecom sector rose as Telus, Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and Quebecor's Videotron were among the prominent telecom companies that have put down a deposit to take part in Canada's wireless spectrum auction next January.
Industry Canada says that a total of 15 participants have put down the deposit for the auction next Jan. 14. None of the 15 are foreign companies. Rogers led the pack, up 73 cents to $45.57.
Commodity prices were lower despite signs that the world's second biggest economy is gradually recovering from a prolonged slowdown.
The base metals sector rose as December copper lost three cents to $3.29 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources climbed 34 cents to $28.66.
The gold sector was up while Barrick Gold Corp. rose 24 cents to $19.35.
Among energy plays, Cenovus Energy fell 35 cents to $30.34.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, Calgary-based fertilizer producer Agrium Inc. says its third-quarter results will be negatively affected by soft prices and lower sales volumes in its wholesale operations. It says wholesale earnings before interest and tax will be about $200 million lower than in the same period last year.
Agrium also said it will increase its dividend by 50% to $3 U.S. a share per year but its shares fell $2.90 to $90.60.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 1.29 points to 947.39
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split at noon between gainers and laggards, the former group being led by telecoms, up 0.8%, gold, heading higher 0.7%, and consumer discretionaries, up 0.4%.
The seven losing groups were weighed mostly by health-care, down 2.3%, information technologies, down 0.8%, and energy, off 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors remained cautious Monday as lawmakers in Washington continue to battle over a budget deal.
The Dow Jones Industrials shed 47.76 points, to 15,403.10
The S&P 500 index faded 10.04 points to 1,699.87. The NASDAQ dropped 20.98 points to 3,753.75.
Apple shares jumped after the company said it sold a record nine million iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C devices worldwide during the first three days the phone went on sale. Apple was the biggest winner in the S&P 500.
Share of fellow smartphone maker BlackBerry shares continued to decline. The company announced last week that it is slashing 40% of its workforce and warned of a $1-billion U.S. quarterly loss.
Financial stocks were among the worst performers, with shares of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America down more than 2%.
Monday marks the first day that Bank of America, as well as Hewlett-Packard and Alcoa are no longer included in the Dow. But the newest components weren't helping the Dow's performance. Goldman Sachs was the Dow's biggest laggard, while Nike and Visa were down more than 1%.
Netflix shares also slid, but only after hitting a record high earlier in the day. On Sunday, director David Fincher won an Emmy Award for his work on
Netflix's "House of Cards" series. The Emmy win was the first for a TV show that only airs online.
Carl Icahn took a 10% stake in the streaming video company in October. But as recently as two weeks ago, the billionaire investor said he hadn't sold a single share of the company.
Unless a compromise is reached during the next week, the government is poised to shut down at the start of October. While investors don't typically worry too much about a shutdown, the political wrangling and gridlock may cause some volatility in markets, according to experts.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, lowering yields to 2.71% from Friday’s 2.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell back $1.28 to $103.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $5.60 at $1,326.90 U.S. an ounce.
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