The Toronto stock market opened little changed Tuesday as traders looked to new stimulus measures from the Japanese government and awaited U.S. manufacturing and housing data.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 19.27 points to begin a shortened week at 14,074.03. Markets in Toronto were closed Monday for Family Day.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.04 cents to 91.17 cents U.S.
This week, the resource sector will produce a variety of earnings reports from companies including HudBay Minerals, Lundin Mining and Sherritt International. Gold miners Iamgold and Yamana Gold also post results.
On Tuesday, Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust reported an adjusted profit of $36.8 million, which came in above a forecast of $34.6 million when Choice prepared its initial public offering last summer.
Its funds from operations, another key financial measure for real estate companies, was $82.8 million compared with the forecast of $78.9 million. Choice units were unchanged at $10.45.
Home improvement chain Rona also posts earnings Tuesday. Rona eked up two cents to $12.39.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported folks offshore reduced their holdings of Canadian securities by $4.3 billion in December, most of them Canadian dollar-denominated bonds. Canadian investors acquired $3.7 billion of foreign securities, led by U.S. dollar-denominated bonds.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 3.43 points to 999.78.
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher to begin the day, with health-care and information each up 1.3%, while metals and mining advanced 0.7%.
The four laggards were weighed mostly by consumer staples and industrials, each down 0.3%, while telecoms slid 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed Tuesday morning, as investors digest the latest corporate earnings and a notable drug company merger.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average subsided 6.42 points to open Tuesday at 16,147.97.
The S&P 500 index moved higher 0.64 points to 1,839.27. The NASDAQ tacked on 19.95 points to 4,263.98. American markets were closed Monday for Presidents Day.
The holiday-shortened week is not off to a good start. Coca-Cola dropped almost 3% after the beverage giant reported revenue below analyst estimates. The company's global footprint makes it a good barometer for consumer spending around the world, including emerging markets.
In other corporate news, Actavis agreed to buy Forest Laboratories for $25 billion U.S. in a deal announced Tuesday. Shares of both pharmaceutical companies surged on the news. Forest jumped 30% while Actavis was up 8%.
The deal is yet another big win for activist investor Carl Icahn, who is a major shareholder in Forest Labs and helped spur changes in the company's management last year.
Shares of Netflix fell Tuesday as reports surfaced that the company's move to strike a deal with Time Warner Cable for a place on the cable company's set-top boxes has slowed.
King Media Entertainment, the maker of the popular online puzzle game Candy Crush, filed to for an initial public offering. Shares of Zynga, another developer of mobile and online games. rose modestly.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained a bit, lowering yields to 2.72% from Friday’s 2.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices picked up 90 cents to $101.20 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices increased $3.90 to $1,322.50 U.S. an ounce.
Stocks mixed with focus on earnings
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