Stocks in Toronto remained slightly in the red by midday Monday, as lower gold prices more than offset the boost from a jump in crude prices, while investors geared up for the quarterly corporate earnings season.
The TSX shed 27.3 points to move into noon hour EDT at 19,200.75.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.17 cents at 79.63 cents U.S.
Bank of Montreal entered into an agreement with Ameriprise Financial to sell its EMEA asset management business for about $1.1 billion in an all-cash transaction.
Shares in “The First Canadian Bank” took on 45 cents to $115.34.
Corus Entertainment rose 18 cents, or 2.9%, to $6.44, but Vermilion Energy dropped two cents to $8.67.
Aphria sank $2.67, or 13.1%, the most on the TSX, to $17.69 after the company reported a third-quarter loss due to a coronavirus-induced slump in demand and one-time costs related to its deal for alcoholic beverages maker SweetWater.
Aurora Cannabis was down 90 cents, or 8.1%, to $10.25..
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 16.06 points, or 1.7%, to 943.29.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with health-care capsizing 4.7%, gold down 1.5%, and materials 1.2% to the bad.
The five gainers were co-led by financials and consumer discretionary stocks, each up 0.5%, and consumer staples, ahead 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell slightly from record levels on Monday as muted trading resumed before the first-quarter earnings season and the release of widely-watched inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 35.12 points to 33,765.48. Boeing was the biggest decliner in the blue-chip Dow, falling 1.8%.
The S&P 500 lost 5.27 points to 4,123.53,
The NASDAQ Composite docked 77.15 points to 13,823.91.
Re-opening plays led losses with shares of Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line off about 5% each. United Airlines fell about 4% after the carrier said its first-quarter revenue is expected to fall 66% compared with the same period in 2019. The new guidance fells near the top of the range between 65% and 70% that the company had previously forecast.
Shares of Nuance Communications jumped 18% after Microsoft announced it will buy the speech recognition company in a $16-billion deal. The Nuance acquisition represents Microsoft’s largest acquisition since it bought LinkedIn for more than $26 billion in 2016.
Tesla gained more than 3% to around $700 after Canaccord Genuity upgraded the stock to buy and raised its price target to $1,071, citing its battery innovations.
The first-quarter earnings reporting season begins this week, with expectations set for broadly positive news and an uptrend for U.S. equities thanks to a recovering economy. Many of the nation’s largest banks, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase will this week report results for the three months ended March 31.
The coming week is also packed with Federal Reserve speeches and key economic data including a hotly anticipated inflation reading Tuesday, when the U.S. consumer price index is released.
The central bank’s chairman, Jerome Powell, kicked off the week of multiple Fed appearances with an interview that aired Sunday evening on CBS News’ "60 Minutes."
During the interview, Powell reiterated that the Fed wants to see inflation rise above its 2% for an extended period before officials move to raise interest rates.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys fell, raising yields to 1.68% from Friday’s 1.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 34 cents to $59.66 U.S. a barrel.
Gold dropped $12.70 to $1,732.10 U.S. an ounce.
