The Toronto stock market finished Monday slightly higher, with U.S. markets looking to regain their early-year momentum, after a lacklustre response to strong U.S. jobs numbers last Friday.
The S&P/TSX Composite eked out a gain of 8.08 points to close at 12,196.72
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.47 cents to 97.72 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Canada’s largest publicly traded miner Teck Resources Ltd. is moving to solidify its position in the oil business, offering more than $435 million for its oilsands partner SilverBirch Energy Corp.
The transaction is valued at $8.50 cash for each SilverBirch share plus one share of a new company, to be called SilverWillow Energy Corp. Teck stock fell 74 cents to $37.61, while SilverBirch shares skyrocketed $2.41, or 33.5%, to $9.61.
Commodity prices were higher with the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead. Imperial Oil shares gave back 14 cents to $46.44, while rival Suncor gained 34 cents to $31.89. Bullion prices were up as Kinross Gold progressed 12 cents to $12.79, while rival Goldcorp. Chugged ahead 57 cents to $45.77.
A new report from the Bank of Canada said that businesses pessimism is on the rise with confidence notably lower than the highs reached after Canada emerged from recession in mid-2009.
More businesses responding to the Bank of Canada survey said they are discouraged about future sales prospects, with more companies expecting slower sales this year. That's the first decline in nearly three years, the bank said.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported this morning that building permits skidded 3.6% to $6.1 billion in November, after a jump of 11.6% in October. A decline in non-residential permits, particularly in Ontario, more than offset gains in the value of their residential counterparts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 1.75 points to 1,527.48, while the Nasdaq Canada index nipped up 1.22 points to 382.69
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups closed the day lower. Metals and mining slumped 1.4%, while consumer staples lost 0.6% of their strength, and information technology issues were 0.4% to the bad.
The half-dozen gainers were led by health-care, 1.5% more robust, consumer discretionaries, inching up 0.2%, and financials, gaining 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, drifted modestly higher Monday as investors continued to keep a close eye on events in Europe and geared up for the start of corporate earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrials were up 32.27 points on the day to 12,392.70
The S&P 500 finished 2.89 points in the green at 1,280.70, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.34 points to 2,676.56.
Aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa will kick off the quarterly reports season after the closing bell. Analysts expect a modest sales increase and a big profit drop.
Overall, earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to be up 7.5% in the final three months of 2011, versus the same period in 2010, according to research from S&P Capital IQ.
Novartis shares slipped after the Swiss pharmaceutical company recalled bottles of over-the-counter drugs, including Excedrin and Bufferin, because of complaints about mislabeled and broken pills.
Netflix shares rose after CEO Reed Hastings told Reuters that the company began gaining back U.S. subscribers in the fourth quarter of last year. That said, he still doesn't expect the company to turn a profit in 2012. Netflix also launched its service in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Monday, going up against Amazon-owned rival Lovefilm.
Ford Motor Company shares rose after the automaker unveiled new, fully redesigned versions of its popular Fusion mid-sized sedan at the Detroit auto show. The new lineup will include Ford's first plug-in hybrid sedan.
While earnings are expected to have increased last quarter, investors remain nervous about the debt crisis in Europe.
On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that progress has been made on a proposed intergovernmental pact to increase fiscal discipline across the euro-zone. The leaders added that the pact could be signed ahead of the Jan. 30 E.U. summit and go into effect as early as March.
Meanwhile, Italy and Spain are set to hold the first bond auctions of 2012 later this week.
Yields on 10-year Italian bonds continued to rise Monday, reaching 7.16%, after the government announced plans to sell €8.5 worth of 12-month bills Thursday.
On the economic front, consumer credit increased at an annual rate of $9.9 billion U.S. in November to $20.4 billion U.S., according to data from the Federal Reserve. Analysts surveyed by Briefing.com were expecting consumer credit to have increased by $7 billion U.S, after increasing by $7.6 billion U.S. in October.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note faded, hoisting yields back to the 1.96% level where they ended Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery demurred 97 cents to $100.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery added 60 cents to $1,617.40 U.S. an ounce.
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