Equities in Canada’s largest centre backpedaled midday Tuesday, as a rebound in gold prices boosted miners of the precious metal and better-than-expected Bank of Montreal earnings lifted financial company shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had dipped into negative territory 41.24 points to greet noon at 12,804.39.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.48 cents to 72.48 cents U.S.
Bank of Montreal shares advanced 1.4% to $74.90 after it posted higher quarterly profits, boosted by growth in its U.S. retail banking business.
Another of the most influential gainers was Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, which rose 9.8% to $114.40 following a two-day selloff.
The company said it would restate results for 2014 and 2015 after identifying some sales to drug distributor Philidor Rx Services that should have been recognized only when the drugs were dispensed to patients.
Barrick Gold jumped 4.4% to $18.32 and Goldcorp Inc rose 4% to $21.53.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.42 points to 536.96
Seven of the 13 TSX subgroups remained higher, with health-care up 3.1%, gold better by 2.6%, and telecoms up 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by metals and mining, down 5.5%, energy, tunneling 3.4%, and industrials, worse off 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks dove about 1% Tuesday, weighed by declines in oil prices and a miss in the consumer confidence index.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 176.93 points, or 1.1%, to 16,443.73, as declines in Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase weighed. Morgan holds its investor day Tuesday.
The S&P 500 slumped 18.98 points, or 1%, to 1,926.58. Energy and materials declined about 2% to lead nearly all sectors lower on the 500.
The NASDAQ index slouched 55.31 points, or 1.2%, to 4,515.29, as declines in top tech names Apple, Microsoft and Amazon weighed.
Home Depot came well off session highs gains but remained the top contributor to gains in the Dow Jones following encouraging earnings.
Home Depot, the number-one U.S. home improvement chain, reported better-than-expected quarterly sales, boosted by an improving housing market and unseasonably warm weather in the holiday quarter.
Macy's reported earnings that beat on both the top and bottom line and gave full-year earnings guidance largely above estimates. The retailer said it expected $900 million U.S. in capital expenditures for 2016, less than the approximately $1.1 billion U.S. spent in fiscal year 2015.
Stocks extended losses after The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 92.2 in February, down from a downwardly revised 97.8 in January. Analysts had expected the index to hold near January levels.
Elsewhere on the data front, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20 city composite home price index showed a 5.7% increase year-over-year in December.
U.S. home re-sales unexpectedly rose in January, reaching a six-month high, in the latest sign that the economy remains on firmer ground despite slowing global growth and tightening financial market conditions.
The National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday existing home sales increased 0.4% to an annual rate of 5.47 million units, the highest level since July. Last month's sales pace was also the second highest since 2007.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury improved, lowering yields to 1.74% from Monday’s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.53 a barrel to $31.86 U.S.
Gold prices regained $16.94 to $1,225.57 U.S. an ounce.
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