Canada's main stock index opened higher on Monday, as stronger commodity prices bolstered the energy and materials sectors, although concerns around rising U.S. bond yields kept sentiment in check.
The TSX Composite Index grabbed 60.87 points to begin the week at 21,916.57.
Markets throughout North America were shuttered Friday for Good Friday.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.01 cents to 79.25 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada resumes coverage on Liberty Gold with an outperform rating. Liberty Gold shares were unchanged at 90 cents.
Desjardins assumed coverage on Premium Brands Holdings with a buy rating. Premium gained 67 cents to $103.77.
RBC raised the target price on Russel Metals to $41.00 from $40.00. Russel shares jumped $1.36, or 4.2%, to $34.00.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tacked on 1.82 points to 894.32.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour, with energy stocks better by 2.3%, while gold shone 1.2% brighter, and materials strengthened 1.1%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, sliding 2.1%, information technology, off 1.4%, and industrials, fading 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was flat Monday as a big week of earnings kicked off, with Bank of America posting better-than-expected results, while traders kept an eye on rates.
The Dow Jones Industrials crept up 14.82 points to 34,466.05.
The S&P 500 inched up 0.06 points to 4,392.67
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 6.29 points to 13,344.79.
Bank of America reported quarterly results Monday showing a 13% year-over-year drop in earnings per share, though the results were slightly higher than expected. The stock gained 2.8%. Shares of fellow big banks JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were also up more than 1% each.
Those numbers raised hope for other companies posting solid quarterly results despite an environment in which rates and inflation are rising.
Technology bellwethers are set to report quarterly earnings this week, with Netflix due on Tuesday and Tesla out on Wednesday. Snap reports Thursday. United Airlines, American Airlines and Alaska Air are also on the calendar, as are railroads CSX and Union Pacific. Several
Dow blue-chip names also report earnings this week, including IBM, Procter and Gamble, Travelers, Dow Inc, Johnson and Johnson, American Express and Verizon.
Earnings season is off to a decent start with 81.5% of S&P 500 companies reporting earnings per share above expectations. About 7.5% of the benchmark has reported results so far and analysts believe first-quarter earnings will jump 5.3% for the quarter when all S&P 500 companies finish reporting.
Morgan Stanley analysts say earnings reports for the first quarter could end up being more disappointing that expected.
Elsewhere, Twitter shares were up 2.7% at about $46.09 per share. The move comes after Twitter announced Friday that the board adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan, often referred to as a “poison pill.” The move comes after billionaire Elon Musk offered to buy the company for $43 billion.
Treasury prices dipped, raising yields however slightly to 2.84%, from Thursday’s 2.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices rebounded $1.99 to $106.24 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $9.20 to $1,975.50 U.S. an ounce.
