The Toronto stock market was virtually unchanged midday Monday amid major acquisition activity and a revenue-and-profit warning from athletic wear retailer Lululemon Athletica.
The S&P/TSX composite index slid 13.49 points to reach noon at 13,734.03, after hitting a 2 1/2-year high on Friday.
The Canadian dollar advanced 0.29 cents to 91.97 cents U.S.
Goldcorp Inc. is making a $2.6-billion takeover play for Montreal-based Osisko Mining Corp. Goldcorp is offering a combination of stock and cash that values Osisko at $5.95 per share, about 15% above the stock's value at the end of last week.
Osisko hasn't said whether its board supports the takeover offer, which is being made directly to Osisko shareholders.
Goldcorp. is one of the Canada's largest gold producers and says the acquisition of Osisko would provide it with a major mine in Quebec and other assets with growth potential. Goldcorp shares lost 71 cents to $24.58 while Osisko jumped 19% to $6.15.
The gold sector declined as Barrick Gold faded 37 cents to $19.45.
Industrials also gave up ground as Canadian Pacific Railway declined $2.23 to $164.84.
The base metals sector was ahead while March copper dipped two cents to $3.32 U.S. a pound. Capstone Mining gained three cents to $2.99.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved higher 0.60 points to 967.15
ON WALLSTREET
Indices were fairly flat early Monday, as traders were hesitating ahead of earnings reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 38.12 points to break for noon ET at 16,398.93
The S&P 500 index fell 3.15 points to 1,839.22. The NASDAQ inched higher 1.02 points to 4,175.69, despite big gains in Twitter, Hewlett-Packard and Netflix
Now investors are looking ahead to the first big round of fourth quarter earnings coming later in the week.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are scheduled to report Tuesday morning, while other big banks Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are also on tap to report their results.
The financial sector is expected to see the highest earning growth in the quarter, according to FactSet. But some investors worry that banks' revenue growth could be hurt by a slowdown in trading activity, particularly in the bond market.
Dow components General Electric and Intel are up later in the week, too.
Overall, FactSet expects earnings for the companies in the S&P 500 to be up 6.1% in the quarter.
Yet there have been an unusually high number of companies warning in advance that earnings will be below expectations. As of Friday, 88 companies in the S&P 500 had issued negative earnings guidance. That trend continued Monday with two more companies issuing profit warnings.
Vancouver-based Yoga apparel retailer Lululemon cut its fourth quarter earnings guidance, saying that traffic and sales have declined since the beginning of January. The stock tanked on the news.
SodaStream shares plunged after the company said profits for 2013 will fall short of expectations, due in part to weak holiday sales in the United States.
Shares of Beam shot up after the spirits maker announced it was being acquired by Japan's Suntory for $16 billion U.S. Beam, most well-known for its Jim Beam brand of bourbon, said the transaction was expected to close in the second quarter of 2014. Suntory is agreeing to pay $83.50 U.S. per share -- a 25% premium over Beam's closing price on Friday.
Twitter shares surged after analysts at Goldman Sachs praised the stock in a research report.
Shares of General Motors and Ford were both higher Monday as Detroit hosts the North American International Auto show. Major automakers use the event to showcase their newest vehicles and innovations.
Investors are still digesting Friday's jobs report, which showed a big slowdown in job creation in the final month of 2013. Many experts are now saying colder-than-normal temperatures in December hit hiring.
Despite the lousy jobs report, stocks managed to end higher Friday as investors generally believe the economy will continue to improve in 2014.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries nicked higher, lowering yields to 2.84% from Friday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 59 cents to $92.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $4.30 to $1,251.20 U.S. an ounce.
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