The Toronto stock market was lower Monday, pulled down primarily by consumer staples, as well as energy stocks that fell in the wake of data showing the Chinese manufacturing sector expanding, but at a sluggish pace.
The S&P/TSX composite index docked 48.83 points to greet noon at 14,564.49
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.25 cents to 88.37 cents U.S.
The base metals group was ahead as the December copper contract edged up a cent to $3.05 U.S. a pound.
Meanwhile, it's a heavy week for earnings, with reports from heavyweights including Talisman Energy, TransCanada Corp., Enbridge, insurers Sun Life and Great-West Lifeco Tim Horton's, Air Canada and Canadian Natural Resources.
On Monday, Second Cup Ltd. posted a loss of $26.2 million or $2.65 a share in the third quarter as the troubled specialty coffee company booked provisions for cafe closures and the impairment of its asset. On an adjusted basis, Second Cup's operations had a reduced profit of four cents per share -- down from 11 cents a share a year ago. Its shares slipped seven cents to $3.03.
Canadian banks and credit card companies have reached a deal with the federal government to cut fees charged to retailers for credit transactions and are likely to announce the agreement this week.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 0.19 points to 769.78.
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, health-care shares leading the former group, up 0.9%, information technology, up 0.4%, and gold, advancing 0.3%.
The seven laggards were weighed mostly by consumer staples, down 1.4%, while materials and energy each lost 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fluctuated on Monday, after October gains left the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 at records.
The benchmarks ended at all-time highs on Friday after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly expanded stimulus, with the move following the U.S. Federal Reserve's expected announcement that it was ending its monthly bond purchases.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative 30.12 points by noon to 17,360.40
The S&P 500 gained 2.26 points to 2,020.31. The NASDAQ index tacked on 18.18 points to 4,648.92.
Sapient rallied after a French advertising company, Publicis Groupe, said it would pay $3.7 billion U.S. to buy the company. Covance jumped as Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings said it would purchase the supplier of research services for drug companies for about $6.1 billion U.S.
Of the 366 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings for the third quarter, just over 75% have beaten expectations, while 58% have posted revenue that topped estimates, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Monday's economic reports had the Institute for Supply Management's gauge of manufacturing rising to 59 in October, matching August as the best reading since March 2011.
Separate data had construction spending falling 0.4% in September.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dipped, raising yields to 2.37% from Friday’s 2.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 47 cents to $80.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $2.20 to $1,169.40 U.S. an ounce.
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