The Toronto stock market was lower Monday afternoon as traders wondered about the resiliency of U.S. markets and took in a profit warning from athletic wear retailer Lululemon Athletica.
The S&P/TSX composite index slid 66.04 points to close Monday at 13,681.48.
The Canadian dollar advanced half a cent to 92.18 cents U.S.
The energy sector led TSX decliners, down 1.2% as Suncor Energy lost 69 cents to $37.27 while Canadian Natural Resources advanced 34 cents to $35.85.
The tech sector fell 0.7%. BlackBerry Ltd. has hired Eric Johnson, a senior executive from German global software giant SAP, as president of global sales for the smartphone company.
He and BlackBerry chairman and CEO John Chen worked together previously at Sybase, which Chen turned around and grew before its sale to SAP for $5.8 billion U.S. in 2010. BlackBerry shares fell 45 cents to $9.11.
Industrials were a major source of weakness as Canadian Pacific Railway lost $3.63 to $163.44.
The gold sector was ahead 1.7% as Barrick Gold faded nine cents to $19.73.
Goldcorp Inc. is making a $2.6-billion cash and stock takeover play for Montreal-based Osisko Mining Corp.
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 25 cents to $25.04 while Osisko jumped $1.07, or 20.7%, to $6.24.
The base metals sector gained 0.7% as March copper rose one cent to $3.35 U.S. a pound.
Capstone Mining gained 12 cents to $3.08 as the company released production results from its Pinto Valley, Cozamin and Minto mines. Capstone said it met overall 2013 copper production targets, "with outperformance at Pinto Valley and Cozamin comfortably offsetting lower production at Minto."
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved lower 1.67 points to 964.88
ON WALLSTREET
Investors moved to the sidelines Monday as they wait for a slew of corporate earnings reports later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hurtled earthward 179.11 points, or 1.1%, to end the session at 16,257.94
The S&P 500 index fell 23.17 points to 1,819.20. The NASDAQ tumbled 61.36 points to 4,113.31, despite gains in Twitter, Hewlett-Packard and Netflix
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 post the biggest profit growth in the quarter, according to FactSet. But some investors worry that banks' revenue 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.
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, and at least one trader said Lululemon's products are simply too expensive for most consumers.
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. The selloff revived talk that SodaStream is a takeover target.
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 rose after analysts at Goldman Sachs praised the stock in a research report. Following a strong rally late last year, Twitter has been volatile in recent weeks amid concerns the stock is overvalued.
SeaWorld Entertainment reported record revenue of $1.46 billion U.S. for 2013, driven by strong attendance at the company's amusement parks during the fourth quarter, according to preliminary results. The stock rose more than 2%.
SeaWorld was the subject of a documentary that aired on CNN last year called Blackfish, which focuses on the dangers of keeping killer wales in captivity. Shares fell 14% in 2013.
Netflix shares jumped although there was no company specific news to explain it.
Shares of General Motors and Ford were little changed 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 2.83% from Friday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.15 to $91.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $7.30 to $1,254.20 U.S. an ounce.
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