Stocks in Canada’s largest market opened higher on Monday as investors await a raft of global economic events in the week, including the Bank of Canada's rate decision and a testimony from the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX composite index gained 48.74 points to start the week at 15,174.24
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 93.15 cents U.S.
Changes allowing Canadian wireless phone customers to cancel their contracts without penalty after two years have increased the costs of basic plans, while the price of heavy-use plans continued to fall, a study to be released showed.
Bombardier said it had signed an agreement with Chinese carrier Zhejiang Loong Airlines for 20 of its CSeries jetliners. Bombardier shares took on 11 cents to $3.88.
Barrick Gold said on Sunday it is forming a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Co to run its Jabal Sayid copper asset in the kingdom, a move that could see the long-delayed mine finally begin production in late 2015. Barrick shares dipped 44 cents, or 2.1%, to $20.27.
Raymond James cut the rating on Semafo to market perform from outperform. Semafo shares fell 23 cents, or 4.7%, to $4.62.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 4.58 points to 1,018.35.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher to begin the session, with energy surging 0.9%, while consumer discretionary and industrial stocks each climbing 0.6%
The three laggards were gold, down 2.4%, materials, off 1.3%, and the metals and mining group down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Markets are off to a positive start this week as investors gear up for a flurry of earnings from big names, starting with Citigroup on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrials zoomed 129.21 points to 17,073.02
The S&P 500 hiked 10.35 points to 1,977.92, and the NASDAQ composite gained 25.12points to 4,415.59.
Citigroup will report earnings before the opening bell. It may also announce a $7-billion U.S. deal with U.S. regulators to settle charges related to the sale of bad mortgages during the run-up to the financial crisis.
AbbVie has won the support of the management of Shire, a London-listed drugmaker, for its improved £31-billion ($53-billion U.S.) takeover bid. The deal should allow AbbVie to move its tax base to the U.K., under a process known as "inversion." Pfizer tried but failed with a similar approach earlier this year to AstraZeneca.
Tech stock could be the stars of the earnings parade this week and some big names were moving pre-market Monday. Apple and Facebook were both up by about 1%, while Amazon and Google posted slightly narrower gains.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged, upping yields to 2.54% from Friday’s 2.52%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 20 cents to $100.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tailed off $30.60 to $1,306.80 U.S. an ounce.
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