Toronto stocks were mildly higher on Tuesday and continued to recover some of the plunge seen late last week. Gold stocks led the market higher.
Within minutes of Tuesday’s close, the S&P TSX Composite index had gained back 53.30 points to 11,392.02. The market enjoyed a second straight upward session, after climbing off an 11-day low.
Gold stocks were up and materials stocks gained strength as well. Iamgold rallied 4.9% to $14.71, Goldcorp was up 3.6% to $43.30 and Agnico-Eagle Mines added 2.6% to $71.78.
Kinross gained 4.8% to $23.43 after the company said its production may rise more than 50% in five years, according to reports.
In corporate news, Royal Bank of Canada was down 0.7% to $57.57 after the company said it has agreed to acquire J.P. Morgan's Third Party Registered Investment Advisor Servicing Business IAS. Terms were not disclosed. The Financial Index is up 0.2%.
Corus Entertainment gained 3.8% to $17.44 announced that its board approved a discount for Class B Shares issued from its treasury under its Dividend Reinvestment Plan.
Bombardier expects to sell nearly 1,000 rail cars per year in India over the next three years, according to Bloomberg. The stock was up 1.7% to $4.94.
The Canadian dollar rallied 0.11 cents to 92.14 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher. Gold led the charge, up 2.5%, followed by materials, ahead 1.8% and telecoms, gaining 0.8%.
The three laggards were real-estate, down 0.9%, global base metals, sinking 0.5% and utilities, nuzzling lower by 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.58 points to 1,272.31, while the Nasdaq Canada index surged 11.06 points to 708.52.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slipped late Tuesday as a surprise drop in consumer confidence countered a better-than-expected housing market report, adding to questions about the strength of an economic recovery.
The Dow Jones Industrials moved 47.16 points lower on the day to 9,742.20. The S&P 500 index slid 2.37 points to 1,060.61. The Nasdaq composite index retreated 6.70 points to 2,124.04.
Stocks churned in the early going, before turning lower after the 10 a.m. ET release of the consumer confidence report. By afternoon, stocks were volatile, bouncing across the unchanged line.
After sliding last week, stocks bounced back Monday as investors welcomed multi-billion-dollar merger news involving Abbott Labs and Xerox
But stock investors have been wary of late as the leading indexes pushed up against nearly one-year highs following a nearly seven-month stock market rally.
Since bottoming at a 12-year low March 9, the S&P 500 has gained 57% and the Dow has gained 49.5%, as of Monday's close. After hitting a six-year low, the Nasdaq has gained 68%.
In company news, CIT Group, fighting to pay off debt and avoid bankruptcy, is reportedly negotiating a new credit facility that could total $10 billion U.S. Shares of the lender jumped 18%. Earlier, reports said that hedge fund manager John Paulson was considering merging CIT with failed mortgage lender IndyMac.
Dell unveiled its newest high-end, super-thin personal computer late Monday. Called the Latitude Z, the 4.5-pound PC will retail for $1,999 U.S. Dell shares fell 3% Tuesday.
JPMorgan Chase said it is shuffling some of the management responsibilities of its successful investment banking and asset management units. Shares were little changed.
Drugstore chain Walgreen reported weaker quarterly earnings and higher quarterly revenue, both of which topped analysts' estimates. Shares rose 9.5%.
Sequenom's board said it has removed most of its management team, including the CEO, following a scandal involving mishandling of research and results on its prenatal Down Syndrome test. Shares of the genetic analysis product developer fell 37% in unusually active NYSE trading.
Tuesday was the first anniversary of the Dow's biggest one-day point loss of all time, when the average plummeted 777.68 points and the broad market knocked out $1.2 trillion U.S. in value.
The plunge followed the House of Representatives's decision to reject the government's then $700-billion-U.S. bank bailout plan. With banks around the globe teetering on the brink of collapse and credit nearly frozen, the decision sparked a panic that battered stocks in every sector.
The crash happened following a brutal two-week roller-coaster for stock investors, triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
In economic news, the Case-Shiller 20-city home price index showed the pace of falling home prices has slowed. Prices dropped 13.3% in July versus a year ago versus expectations for a drop of 14.2%, according to Briefing.com. Prices fell 15.44% year-over-year in June.
Another report showed a drop in consumer confidence in September, potentially a bad sign ahead of the critical holiday retail sales period. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index fell to 53.1 from 54.5 in August. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting the index to rise to 57.
Treasury prices dipped a mite, tweaking the yield on the benchmark 10-year note higher at 3.29% from Monday’s 3.28%.
The price of a barrel of oil settled 13 cents to $66.63 U.S.
Gold prices were flat at $994 U.S. an ounce.
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