Positive Opening for Stocks


Stocks were on the march to begin November, led by energy and mining stocks as oil and gold climbed.

The S&P/TSX Composite hiked 50.05 points to begin Tuesday at 14,837.32.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.11 cents to 74.66 cents U.S.

Thomson Reuters said it would eliminate about 2,000 jobs worldwide and take a fourth-quarter charge of $200 million to $250 million to streamline its business. The restructuring across 39 countries and 150 locations would mainly affect the Financial & Risk business and the Enterprise, Technology & Operations Group.

Thomson Reuters shares rocketed $2.13, or 4%, to $54.99.

WestJet Airlines reported a 14% rise in quarterly profit as it flew more passengers. The company's net earnings rose to $116 million, or 97 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 from $101.80 million, or 82 cents per share, a year earlier. The revenue rose 7.6% to $1.12 billion.

WestJet shares got $1.03, or 4.7%, worth of lift to $22.98.

BlackBerry has signed a deal to work directly with Ford Motor Co to expand the carmaker's use of its QNX secure operating system, as Ford develops increasingly automated vehicles.

BlackBerry shares gained nine cents, or 1%, to $9.56.

Cipher Pharmaceuticals has hired an investment bank to review strategic alternatives, including a potential sale. The strategic review comes amid increased U.S. scrutiny of specialty drug prices, which has weighed on the valuations of many Canadian specialty pharmaceutical companies with U.S. revenues.

Cipher shares dipped 19 cents, or 3.9%, to $4.66.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International says its former chief executive and chief financial officer are at the centre of a U.S. criminal probe against the drug maker over its ties to a specialty pharmacy that helped boost its sales. The case against Valeant could yield charges within weeks, or lead to a settlement with the company

Valeant shares still gathered 67 cents, or 2.8%, to $24.61.

Berenberg raised the target price on First Quantum Minerals to $8.25 from $8.00, saying that the company is a growing copper miner with operations on track to meet guidance and cash costs.

First Quantum shares fell 17 cents, or 1.3%, to $12.57.

CIBC initiated coverage on Lundin Gold with outperform rating and $7.30 price target, stating that the company is an attractive development project that has greater certainty of project economics.

Lundin Gold nicked ahead two cents to $6.18.

CIBC raises target price on Vermilion Energy to $57.50 from $55.00, to reflect the company’s portfolio strength.
Vermilion shares gained 74 cents, or 1.4% to $53.34.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported real gross domestic product inched ahead 0.2% in August, following a 0.4% gain in July. The agency said the output of goods-producing industries rose while service-producing industries were essentially unchanged.

The RBC Markit Manufacturing PMI nosed upward to 51.1 in October, following a 50.3 reading in September

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange surged 7.02 points to 779.79

All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups began the day higher, with gold shining 2.3%, materials perking 1.9%, and health-care haler by 1.3%.

The three laggards were telecoms, slumping 0.2%, while consumer discretionary and real-estate stocks each slumbered 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. equities chopped around the flatline on Tuesday, the first trading day of the month, after the release of mixed economic data while investors kept an eye on election-related news.

The Dow Jones Industrials were down 10.58 points to open Tuesday at 18,131.84, with Travelers Companies contributing the most losses.

The S&P 500 moved down 2.28 points at 2,123.87, with utilities falling 0.8% to lead decliners

The NASDAQ composite index dropped 6.39 points to 5,182.75.

In corporate news, earnings season continued, with Dow component Pfizer reporting weaker-than-expected results, while Coach posted in-line earnings and sales below consensus.

Mergers and acquisitions totaled more than $300 billion in October, with AT&T agreeing to buy Time Warner for more than $85 billion U.S.

According to experts, 70% of the 328 S&P 500 components that had reported as of Tuesday morning exceeded expectations, while 55% beat revenue estimates.

Meanwhile, on the election front, market expectations that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would win were thrown into flux last week, when FBI Director James Comey said in a letter the agency was looking into new emails related to the former secretary of State.

An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll released Monday afternoon showed Clinton's six-point lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump remains virtually unchanged.

In economic news, the October read on the Markit manufacturing PMI came in at 53.4, above September's number of 51.5. The ISM manufacturing index for October met expectations at 51.9, while construction spending data for September missed consensus.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 1.87% from Monday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices rebounded seven cents to $46.93 U.S. a barrel

Gold prices gained $14.60 to $1,287.70 U.S. an ounce.


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