The Toronto stock market maintained a hefty gain Tuesday afternoon as the TSX played catch-up following a Canadian holiday Monday that saw a big jump on Wall Street.
The S&P TSX Composite Index gained 69.17 points to 11,782.60.
However, Toronto’s gain on Tuesday was tempered by disappointing data on personal spending and incomes out of the U.S. and anticipation of employment numbers from both sides of the border later this week.
Stronger commodity prices also gave the TSX a boost.
The Toronto energy sector gained as shares in Suncor Energy Inc. added 89 cents to $34.78.
The base metals sector was a big gainer, following a 2% jump in the price of copper on Monday.
On Tuesday, the September copper contract on the Nymex lost 3.1 cents to close at $3.36 U.S. a pound.
Shares in HudBay Minerals Inc. gained 11 cents to $12.93.
Gold stocks gained as shares in Barrick Gold Corp. were up 15 cents to $42.41.
Financial stocks added strength following upbeat earnings from European banks BNP Paribas and HSBC. Shares in CIBC gained 24 cents to $70.84.
In Canadian corporate news, shares in Kinross Gold Corp. lost $1.10 or 6.5% to $15.77 after the company said Monday it plans to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Red Back Mining Inc. that it doesn’t already own in a deal valued at $7.1 billion U.S.
The transaction is expected to help increase Kinross’s gold production to approximately 3.9 million ounces by 2015. Shares in Red Back jumped $1.57 or 6% to $27.59.
Talisman Energy Inc. stock added 12 cents to $17.67 after BP announced it has agreed to sell its oil and gas exploration business in Colombia for $1.9 billion U.S. to a consortium of Talisman and Ecopetrol, Colombia’s national oil company.
Research in Motion shares lost $2.34 or nearly 4% to $56.81. The new BlackBerry Torch was revealed at a press conference Tuesday in New York to better compete with Apple’s iPhone.
However, RIM is also contending with a ban on email, messaging and web browsing on its smartphones by the United Arab Emirates.
Gildan Activewear denied any wrongdoing but has agreed to pay $22.5 million U.S. to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in New York related to a revision to its 2008 earnings guidance.
Gildan said the payment will be totally covered by its insurance and will have no impact on its earnings or cash flow. Shares in the company added 11 cents to $31.74.
And cheese maker Saputo Inc. said its first-quarter profit rose 31% to $111.4 million, while revenue slipped. Shares in Saputo added three cents to $31.44.
The Canadian dollar was flat at 97.69 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were up on the day. Metals and mining jumped 3.1%, while global base metals popped 2.8% and health-care were 1.7% to the good.
The two laggards were information technology, off 0.2% and telecoms, down 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange pulled ahead 13.72 points to 1,441.08 while the Nasdaq Canada index tailed off 10.32 points to 645.51.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks closed lower Tuesday, trimming some of the previous session's strong gains, as investors responded to mixed corporate earnings and lackluster economic reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38 points to 10,636.38.
The S&P 500 index slid 5.40 points to 1,120.46, while the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index gave back 11.84 points to 2,283.52.
The retreat came after stocks surged Monday, lifted by upbeat manufacturing data and strong earnings from Europe. But the investors were more cautious Tuesday following disappointing results from Procter & Gamble, and mixed reports on housing, factory orders and personal spending.
Better-than-expected corporate earnings helped boost the market in July. At the same time, however, a spate of disappointing economic reports has raised concerns about the pace of the recovery.
Investors are particularly worried about consumer spending, which drives the bulk of U.S. economic activity, as household budgets remain strained by the weak job market. As a result, trading could be choppy this week as investors brace for the government's monthly payrolls report Friday.
Economists expect Friday's report to show that employers cut payrolls in July and that the unemployment rate ticked up slightly. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that the nation's jobless rate could rise for a few months before it falls.
Meanwhile, energy stocks rose as oil prices closed above $82 U.S. a barrel and BP appeared poised to permanently seal the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron and ExxonMobil both gained about 1.5%.
Shares of companies with exposure to the health care industry gained on strong earnings from drug maker Pfizer. But a dour report from Dow Chemical weighed on the basic materials sector.
Procter & Gamble reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 12% from a year earlier, missing expectations. Sales rose modestly, but also fell short of forecasts.
Shares in the company, a Dow component, slid nearly 4%.
Dow Chemical reported second-quarter earnings that missed analysts' expectations, even as sales rose 20%. Excluding certain items, the largest U.S. chemical company said it earned 54 cents U.S. in the quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting 56 cents U.S.
Archer Daniels Midland's profit rose to $446 million U.S. and trounced forecasts, but the agricultural product company's revenue fell, surprising analysts.
Drug maker Pfizer posted second-quarter profit and revenue that beat estimates.
Most major automakers reported improved U.S. sales in July, making it one of the best months for industrywide sales over the past two years. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all said sales rose 5% in the month, versus July 2009.
Toyota said sales slipped 3% in July, but were slightly better than analysts' forecasts. Sales slipped 2% at Honda Motor.
French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis has reportedly entered into friendly takeover talks with U.S. biotech firm Genzyme. A potential deal would value Genzyme at more than $18 billion U.S., according to the Wall Street Journal.
Economically speaking, government figures showed that both personal income and spending were unchanged in June, adding to concerns about the slowing pace of the economic recovery.
Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected spending to remain flat but were forecasting personal income to edge up 0.1% in June, following a revised 0.3% gain in May.
Separately, factory orders fell for the second month in a row, declining 1.2% in June, the government said. Economists expected a 0.5% dip in total orders, after a 1.8% drop in May.
Pending home sales fell 2.6% in June, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Economists had expected pending home sales to fall 5% in the month, after a 30% plunge in May.
Treasury prices added muscle, lowering yields on the 10-year note to 2.91% from Monday’s 2.96%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil was up $1.08 to $82.42 U.S.
Gold prices tacked on a dollar to $1,189 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
