Canadian shares started the week on a somber note, hurt by losses in the communication services sector, while investors waited for interest rate decisions from major central banks and domestic inflation data later in the week.
The TSX Composite slid 1.28 points by noon hour EDT Monday to 21,847.87.
The Canadian dollar was up only 0.03 cents to 73.84 cents U.S.
Nuvei was the top performer on the TSX, jumping $9.88, or 33.5%, to $39.36, a seven-month high, after the payments processor said it was evaluating go-private proposals.
In matters economic, Statistics Canada said its Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.7% on a monthly basis in February and fell 1.7% relative to February 2023. The Raw Materials Price Index increased 2.1% month over month in February 2024 and decreased 4.7% year over year.
Moreover, the Canadian Real Estate Association declared Monday Canadian home prices as measured by the seasonally adjusted Aggregate Composite MLS® Home Price Index (HPI) were flat on a month-over-month basis in February, ending a streak of five declines that began last fall.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 2.94 points to 547.96.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red midday, with communications down 0.6%, information technology off 0.5%, and gold dulling in price 0.2%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, galloping 4.1%, real-estate, climbing 0.9%, and industrials, up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose Monday, led by gains in Nvidia, as Wall Street awaited a key artificial intelligence conference and looked ahead to monetary policy guidance from the Federal Reserve later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials surged 146.04 points in the middle of the day to 38,860.81.
The S&P 500 index captured 46.38 points to 5,163.47.
The NASDAQ popped 196.19 points, or 1.2%, to 16,169.36.
Nvidia shares were up 0.8% on the first day of the company’s GTC Conference — where the chipmaker is expected to showcase its latest inroads in artificial intelligence. Analysts hiked up their price targets as the conference began, with Truist’s William Stein predicting a 34% upside. Shares had earlier climbed as high as 4% on Monday morning.
Shares of Alphabet rose 7% in their best day in over a year, after Bloomberg News reported that Apple was in talks with Google to include the company’s Gemini AI in iPhones.
Super Micro Computer slid 7% on the company’s first trading day as part of the S&P 500. It had earlier climbed 6%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell, raising yields to 4.34% from Friday’s 4.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gathered $1.34 to $82.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices let go of $1.40 to $2,160.10.
