Stocks in Canada’s biggest market fought to within spitting distance of breakeven by noon ET Tuesday, as losses for the financial and industrial groups offset gains for mining stocks, while news of an acquisition boosted shares of the country's largest pipeline company.
The S&P/TSX Composite was still negative 3.67 points to greet noon at 14,792.03
The Canadian dollar added 0.52 cents at 77.86 cents U.S.
Markets on both sides of the border were shuttered Monday for Labour Day
Enbridge Inc gained 3.7% to $55.23 after saying it would buy Spectra Energy Corp in an all-stock deal valued at about $37 billion to create the largest North American energy infrastructure company.
The financials group fell as Toronto-Dominion Bank declined 0.8% to $58.31, while Brookfield Asset Management Inc was down 1.6% at $43.93.
Bombardier tumbled 5.2% to $2.01 after the company more than halved its CSeries aircraft delivery forecast for the year.
Barrick Gold rose 2.8% to $24.25, while spot gold gained 1% as the dollar weakened on expectations that the Federal Reserve will not raise U.S. interest rates at its September policy meeting.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange soared 12.33 points, or 1.5%, early Tuesday to 823.25
Eight of 12 TSX subgroups were negative by noon, with information technology off 0.8%, while industrials and telecoms each demurred 0.7%.
The four gainers were led by gold, up 2.2%, materials, up 1.6%, and health-care, haler by 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded slightly higher Tuesday as Wall Street after shockingly weak economic data while keeping an eye on oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrials turned positive 14.55 points to 18,506.51, with General Electric leading decliners and McDonald's the top advancer.
The S&P 500 regained 2.71 points to 2,182.59, with financials leading five sectors higher and telecommunications the top riser.
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 17.02 points to 5,262.92
Tuesday saw a slew of corporate news, with Bayer raising its bid for Monsanto to $127.50 U.S. per share from $125. Molecular diagnostics firm Cepheid announced it's being bought out by Danaher for $53 U.S. per shares. Also, Spectra Energy is being bought out by Canadian pipeline firm Enbridge for $28 billion U.S.
The ISM non-manufacturing PMI index for August came in at 51.4. Economists expected the index to come in at 55.0, slightly below a July read of 55.5. A number above 50 indicates expansion, while one below 50 shows contraction.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 1.54% from Friday’s 1.6%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices flopped seven cents at $44.37 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices hiked $17.80 at $1,344.50 U.S. an ounce.
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