Stocks in Toronto enjoyed a slightly open higher on Tuesday despite some disappointing U.S. earnings pre-announcements in the previous session that fuelled worries that the upcoming reporting season may disappoint.
The S&P/TSX composite index picked up 45.22 points to begin Tuesday at 13,726.70
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.54 cents to 91.56 cents U.S.
Corus Entertainment Inc's quarterly profit nearly tripled after the company gained from the recent acquisition of specialty television services. Corus shares took on 90 cents to $25.49.
Drugmakers Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Actavis Plc and Mylan Inc have all expressed interest in buying Pfizer Inc's branded generics business, but no active discussions are going on at this time, according to three people close to the matter. Valeant shares added 45 cents to $142.27.
Cogeco Cable reported an 18% rise in quarterly profit, helped by recent acquisitions. Cogeco shares gained 50 cents to $49.00.
Two of Canada's largest newspaper publishers, including Postmedia Network Canada announced another round of layoffs on Monday, as the industry cuts costs to offset sharp declines in sales of print advertising.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.12 points to 965.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rebounded a bit Tuesday as investors cheered results from some of the nation's largest financial institutions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 48.90 points to start the session at 16,306.84, after a plunge Monday of more than 170 points
The S&P 500 index regained 7.54 points to 1,826.74. The NASDAQ recouped 28.31 points to 4,141.62
After a sharp sell-off Monday, investors turned to bank earnings to get a sense of the economy's health.
JPMorgan Chase posted a fourth-quarter profit of $5.3 billion U.S., including a $1.1 billion U.S. writeoff for legal expenses. But earnings topped expectations.
Shares of JPMorgan rose on the news.
The bank has settled numerous lawsuits in the past year, including over its behavior in the runup to the mortgage crisis and for turning a blind eye to Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff.
Wells Fargo also released earnings that slightly beat estimates, though it reported a big drop in mortgage activity. Shares were down in early trading.
This is just the beginning. Investors are readying themselves for a slew of quarterly earnings announcements over the coming weeks. Four other big banks are due to report their results later this week: Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Shares of Microsoft were down modestly after Citigroup downgraded the stock. Wall Street has become increasingly anxious over the tech giant's search for a successor.
Google moved higher after the search engine announced Monday afternoon that it was buying connected device maker Nest Labs for $3.2 billion U.S.
Also on Monday, Charter Communications said it had formally proposed acquiring Time Warner Cable. Time Warner Cable flatly rejected the offer. Shares of both companies were up in early trading.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell, raising yields to 2.85% from Monday’s 2.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 82 cents to $92.62 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked 80 cents to $1,250.30 U.S. an ounce.
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