Futures for Canada's main stock index edged higher on Monday as gold prices rose, while investors awaited a reading on factory activity data and earnings update to gauge the pace of economic recovery in the country.
The TSX leaped 144.46 points to Monday, the week and month of May at 19,252.39.
The Canadian dollar deleted 0.02 cents to 81.40 cents U.S.
J. Safra Sarasin Group has acquired Bank of Montreal's private banking business in Hong Kong and Singapore, the Swiss group said on Monday, giving no financial terms for the deal announced in January.
Shares in “The First Canadian Bank” traveled higher 66 cents to $116.67.
Canadian Pacific Railway said on Saturday it filed a formal objection with a U.S. regulator stating Canadian National Railway's near $30-billion rival bid for Kansas City Southern does not qualify to be exempted from tougher merger rules.
CP shares acquired $2.96 to $461.67 first thing Monday, while those for rival CN sprang up $1.51, or 1.1%, to $133.84.
J.P. Morgan raised the target price on Agnico Eagle Mines to $86.00 from $84.00. Agnico Eagle galloped $3.03, or 3.9%, to $79.85.
CIBC raised the rating on Information Services Corp. to outperform from neutral. Information Services shares leaped $1.14, or 4.6%, to $25.94.
On the economic slate, the Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index registered 57.2 in April, down from 58.5 in March, to signal the third-strongest growth in operating conditions in the survey to date, which began in October 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.04 points to 959.30.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were back in the green early Monday, with materials sprinting 2.4%, while gold bettered itself 2.3%, and energy gushed 1.6%.
The two laggards were health-care, fading 1.6%, while utilities slid 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks climbed on Monday, the first trading day of May, as shares tied to the economic reopening continued to rise.
The Dow Jones Industrials popped 266.69 points to begin Monday at 34,141.54
The S&P 500 picked up 24.74 points to 4,205.91.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 68.26 points to 14,030.94.
Berkshire Hathaway shares rose 1% after Warren Buffett’s conglomerate reported a 20% surge in operating earnings and continued to buy back large amounts of its own shares. Buffett also revealed that when he is no longer in charge, Greg Abel, vice chairman of all non-insurance operations, will succeed him.
Bets on the economic reopening led the market advance. Gap jumped more than 4%, while Disney and Royal Caribbean rose more than 1% each. Caterpillar and Travelers Companies also both gained about 1%.
Shares of Verizon rose 0.9% after the telecom giant said it will sell its media group to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. The sale allows Verizon to offload properties from the former internet empires of AOL and Yahoo.
Monday marks the first trading day of May. Despite Friday’s weakness in equities, the S&P 500 notched its third straight month of gains in April, adding more than 5% to the index as investors bet on a big economic and profit recovery from the pandemic.
The S&P 500 is now up 11% for the year. The benchmark closed at record levels on Thursday on the heels of blowout earnings results from Apple and Facebook.
The Dow rose about 2.7% last month, while the NASDAQ Composite gained 5.4% in April.
Some investors are expecting weakness in the new month given the old “sell in May and go away” Wall Street adage. This mantra calls for taking off risk from May to October, a period where the market is more prone to selloffs historically.
Manufacturing PMI data for April and Institute for Supply Management manufacturing figures were due this morning.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were higher, lowering yields to 1.59% from Friday’s 1.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices moved ahead 76 cents to $64.34 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices raced $27.60 to $1,795.30 U.S. an ounce.
