Markets in Toronto got off to a faltering start Tuesday, amid uncertainty over the situation in Greece and the by-now familiar unease over oil prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index sank 14.87 points to begin a shortened week at 15,249.94
The Canadian dollar took on 0.27 cents to 80.48 cents U.S.
Markets in Toronto were shuttered Monday for Family Day, and in New York for Presidents’ Day
Restaurant Brands International Inc, formed out of Burger King's takeover of Canadian coffee and doughnut chain Tim Hortons last year, reported a net loss in its first quarterly results after the merger. Restaurant Brands stock sprang to life $3.07, or 6.4%, to $51.32.
Fairfax Financial Holdings said it would buy Brit Plc for about $1.88 billion U.S. to become one of the top five underwriters on the Lloyd's of London market. Fairfax shares jumped $22.00, or 3.4%, to $664.00
Canadian Pacific Railway and Teamsters Canada have agreed to seek mediated arbitration, ending a one-day strike at the country's number-two railway, Labour Minister Kellie Leitch said on Monday. CP stock hiked $5.13 a share, or 2.2%, to $236.98.
Barclays Capital initiated coverage on Hudson's Bay Co. with an equal weight rating, and $27.00 price target. Bay shares retreated 11 cents to $23.54.
RBC Capital Markets cut the rating on IGM Financial to sector perform from outperform. IGM shares docked $1.10, or 2.4%, to $44.10.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that foreign investors cut their holdings of Canadian securities by $13.5 billion in December, mostly due to huge divestments in bonds and equities. Meanwhile, Canadian investors acquired $13.9 billion of foreign securities, mostly in U.S. instruments.
Elsewhere, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that national home sales activity was down by 3.1% from December to January. Actual (not seasonally-adjusted) activity stood 2.0% below January 2014 levels.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 0.79 points to 697.30
The 14 Toronto subgroups were split evenly between gainers and losers, consumer staples heading the former group, up 1.2%, consumer discretionary stocks taking on 1.1%, and telecoms better by 0.4%.
The seven laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 2.5%, materials, off 1.6%, and energy, trailing 1.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower on Tuesday amid the prolonged Greece-euro zone standoff and signs of stabilization in oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrials docked 41.13 points to 17,978.22, with Microsoft the greatest laggard and Visa leading blue chip gains.
The S&P 500 moved down 4.19 points to 2,092.80
The NASDAQ index dropped 4.89 points to 4,888.95, with energy the greatest laggard and health care and utilities the only advancing sectors.
Agilent, Analog Devices, CF Industries, Devon Energy, Fossil and FirstEnergy are among the firms reporting after the bell.
Investors will also be looking ahead to Wednesday, which brings the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's most recent policy-setting meeting.
The New York Fed's Empire State general business conditions index fell in February to 7.78 from January's reading of 9.95.
The NAHB housing market indices showed U.S. home builder sentiment fell two points, largely due to the frigid weather, the National Association of Home Builders said on Tuesday.
Internationally, despite Greece's failure to come to a resolution over a proposal for a six-month extension of its international bailout package, analysts noted that stocks were trading only moderately lower after closing near highs on Friday.
On Wednesday, the European Central Bank will discuss Greek banks' use of emergency liquidity assistance—and after which the ECB may give more clarity as to when or whether it will put a cap on its funding for Greek banks.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dropped, raising yields to 2.06% from Friday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped $1.27 per barrel to $51.51 U.S.
Gold prices fell $15.10 an ounce to $1,212.00 U.S.
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