The Toronto stock market advanced slightly Tuesday amid earnings misses and an executive shakeup in the U.S. retail sector.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 10.45 points to end Tuesday at 14,525.19
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.23 cents to 91.73 cents U.S.
The quarterly earnings season in Canada has pretty much wound up and now traders are waiting for results from the big Canadian banks this week and next.
Royal Bank and TD Bank kick off the stream of earnings on Thursday and analysts are expecting another solid if unspectacular quarter. RBC gained 66 cents to $73.50, while TD dropped a nickel to $51.56.
Analysts don't believe the earnings will yield another leg up in stock prices for the big banks, all of which are very close to their 52-week highs. At the same time, the financial sector has been one of the weakest performers this year despite strong profits and is up just 1.7% year to date.
The industrials sector led TSX gainers, as SNC Lavalin retreated 29 cents to $50.61.
On the commodity markets, the base metals sector rose with July copper off three cents to $3.14 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources faded 11 cents to $24.52.
The gold sector gained as Barrick Gold took on 11 cents to $18.17
The energy sector also rose with Imperial Oil gained 26 cents to $53.24.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales decreased 0.4% to $50.5 billion in March. Lower sales were recorded in three of the seven sub-sectors, which together accounted for 51% of wholesale sales.
The motor vehicle and parts sub-sector recorded the largest decline in March. Excluding this sub-sector, sales edged up 0.1% to $42.3 billion.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 6.4 points to 970.15
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher Tuesday, led by health-care, up 2.3%, materials, gaining 0.5%, and gold, up 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by consumer discretionary and global base metal stocks, down 0.8% each, while consumer staples docked 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
A wave of negative retail news washed over Wall Street on Tuesday, driving the Dow about 150 points lower in afternoon trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 137.55 points to close at 16,374.31, pushed down largely by Caterpillar
The S&P 500 was off 12.25 points to 1,872.83, and the NASDAQ composite index shed 28.93 points to 4,096.89
Gloomy results from retailers like Dick's Sporting Goods and Staples weighed heavily on market sentiment. Clearly, people aren't buying these stores' goods -- or shares.
Traditional U.S. retailers are struggling. Office supply store Staples slumped over 12% on lousy earnings and a warning that results in the current period are likely to fall short of expectations. That news also weighed on rival Office Depot, which fell 5%.
Dick's Sporting Goods tumbled 18% after revealing sub-par golf and hunting sales that sparked weaker than expected results. Dick's also spooked investors by dimming its sales and earnings outlook for the entire year. The company needs a new round -- or arsenal -- of ideas.
It wasn't much prettier for regular clothing, either. Shares of Urban Outfitters fell 8% after the retailer revealed a profit drop that was driven by higher expenses. T.J. Maxx and Marshalls parent TJX slid 7% on an earnings and sales miss.
Another struggling retailer, Target, announced the departure of Canadian chief Tony Fisher, who will be replaced by Mark Schindele. The move comes just weeks after Target dismissed CEO Gregg Steinhafel and amid concerns about continued losses in the company's Canadian division. Target is set to report results Wednesday morning
Department store J.C. Penney lost ground after Wells Fargo downgraded the stock.
The flurry of bad news didn't instill confidence in PetSmart investors ahead of the specialty retailer's scheduled earnings report Wednesday morning.
One of the lone positive retail stories today is Home Depot which rallied 2% after upgrading its outlook. The rosier view offset concerns over the home improvement retailer's weak first-quarter profits and sales.
Maybe people really are doing their spring cleaning and summer repairs.
Americans might not be shopping much in brick-and-mortar stores, but they're definitely gobbling up Red Robin burgers. The fast food joint's shares popped 13% on a first-quarter earnings beat fueled by sales and margin growth.
Growth concerns were triggered by Caterpillar, which said machine sales slumped 13% in the three months ended in April. The mining equipment maker dropped almost 4%, making it the worst performer on the Dow. Other industrial stocks likeUnited Steel and Alcoa were also under pressure.
On the heels of Monday's gains, some beat-up momentum stocks continued to make headway despite few major developments. Shares of FireEye climbed 6%, while Pandora Media advanced 4% earlier before retreating.
More recall issues hit shares of General Motors. The auto maker fell 3% after recalling another 2.42 million vehicles that will result in a $200-million U.S. charge.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.51% from Monday’s 2.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices slid 10 cents to $102.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added 80 cents to $1,294.80 U.S. an ounce.
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