Stock indices in Toronto opened higher on Monday after expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will delay its plans to scale back its stimulus program offset a sharp drop in shares of BlackBerry Ltd, which called off a sale of the company.
The S&P/TSX composite index took on 16.43 points to open the week at 13,353.89
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.09 cents to 96.07 cents U.S.
BlackBerry was the focus of news this morning, amid word that CEO Thorsten Heins was planning to step down, and that its main investor is revising its investment plan.
Companies who have considered a bid run the gamut, with reports claiming Facebook, Microsoft and Chinese computer maker Lenovo, have all taken a peek at BlackBerry's finances. BlackBerry shares started the day off 88 cents, or 10.9%, to $7.21. Fairfax shares lost $9.40, or 2.2%, to $425.35.
In other corporate news, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. has received Colombian environmental licences for two exploration and development blocks that are strategically important to the Toronto-based company.
One licence is for the CPE-6 heavy oil field, which is 50% owned by Talisman Energy Inc. and the other is for the Guama natural gas field, which is wholly owned by Pacifc Rubiales, whose shares hiked 95 cents, or 4.4%, to $22.40, while Talisman shares tailed off seven cents to $12.94
Bombardier Inc. has made its first U.S. sale of a Bombardier 415 water bomber, an amphibious plane used in Canada and other countries to fight forest fires.
Although the first Bombardier 415 was delivered nearly 20 years ago, this is the first to be purchased by a U.S. buyer, a partnership led by Tenax Aerospace LLC, under contract to the U.S. Forest Service. The plane has a list price of $34.5 million U.S. Bombardier shares acquired a penny to $4.59.
Meanwhile, investors will take in plenty of earnings reports this week including WestJet Tuesday, pipeline company Enbridge and auto parts giant Magna International on Wednesday. Thursday is the heaviest day for earnings as traders will hear from Tim Hortons BCE,
Canadian Tire, Canadian Natural Resources and insurance giants Sun Life Financial Manulife Financial and Great West Lifeco
The most important data of the week comes out Friday — October employment data for Canada and the U.S.
Economists looked for Canadian job creation to come in at a modest 10,000 with an uptick in the jobless rate from 6.9% to 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.55 points to 958.88
ON WALLSTREET
The market is riding a huge wave of momentum. Stocks kicked off the week on a positive note, however slightly.
The Dow Jones Industrials inched up 8.78 points, to 15,624.30
The S&P 500 index gained 2.94 points to 1,764.58. The NASDAQ sifted off 0.98 points to 3,921.06
BlackBerry shares tumbled nearly 20% after the company said it has abandoned its plan to sell the company.
Instead, BlackBerry is receiving an investment of $1 billion U.S. from majority shareholder Fairfax Financial. The troubled Canadian smartphone company also said that Thorsten Heins is stepping down as CEO, and that John Chen, former CEO of Sybase, will serve as interim chief. Chen was also appointed executive chair of BlackBerry's board of directors.
Shares of Gap were in the red after Goldman Sachs downgraded the retailer's stock to neutral from buy.
But shares of J.C. Penney continued to rebound following last week's 20% advance.
Twitter, which is expected to make its stock market debut later this week, raised the price range for its initial public offering to $23 to $25 U.S. per share, from a previous range of $17 to $20 U.S. The boosted price is a sign of strong demand for Twitter's IPO, and means Twitter would be valued as high as $13.6 billion U.S.
In economic news, the U.S. government will release its reports on factory orders for both August and September.
Investors will also get their first look at U.S. gross domestic product for the third quarter. The GDP report, due out Thursday, does not include the impact that the government shutdown had on the economy.
But on Friday, the government will release the jobs report for October. That report could show softness in hiring because of uncertainty related to the shutdown and fears of a possible U.S. debt default.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.59% from Friday’s 2.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped seven cents to $94.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $5.30 to $1,318.50 U.S. an ounce.
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