Toronto’s benchmark equities index stumbled Monday, shedding a little more than 1%, but a weather forecast managed to drive agricultural stocks higher.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index docked 105.15 points to conclude trading at 11,330.39
The Canadian dollar was down 0.17 to 97.18 cents U.S.
The TSX ended last week down about 0.8% while the Dow was off about 1%.
Shares of Ithaca Energy Inc. tumbled 24 cents, or 13.1%, to $1.59, slumping after the oil and gas producer announced that within its Athena field operations just three of four production wells were running. The company also pegged second-quarter net oil export production at 370,888 barrels.
Rival Imperial Oil dumped 24 cents, or 1.2% to $40.32, while Suncor swooned 48 cents, or 1.7%, to $27.78
Other notable movers were Nevada Copper Corp, trading down nine cents, or 4.1%, to $2.09, as well as Sacre-Coeur Minerals, falling half a cent, or 5.3%, to nine cents, and Uranium One, sliding 19 cents, or 7.3%, to $2.41.
With crude oil trading below $80 U.S. a barrel in the past few sessions, analysts will need to trim earning outlooks for oil companies, said one expert.
Tech shares were also in the red Monday, with Research In Motion Ltd. reaching a new 52-week low as it traded down 78 cents, or 7.7%, to $9.34.
The Blackberry maker’s losses followed a Morgan Stanley downgrade to underweight, or sell. Morgan Stanley analysts set its target price at $7.
On the upside were several gold stocks, with Centerra Gold adding 28 cents, or 3.2%, to $8.99, and Goldcorp Inc. gaining $1.24, or 3.3%, to $39.20. Meanwhile, Osisko Mining Corp. lost 19 cents, or 2.6%, to $7.09.
Meanwhile, shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan rose 77 cents, or 1.9%, to $42.15, after an analyst at Dahlman Rose & Co. upgraded the fertilizer maker from sell to buy. Dahlman Rose also upgraded its rating for CF Industries, which subsequently lost 15 cents, or 2.7%, to $5.38.
Buoying Potash and other agricultural stocks was a hot weather forecast, which drove corn futures upward as much as 7.2%.
Another round of North American economic data is lined up for this week.
In Canada, real GDP for April, due Friday, is expected to show a continuation of the sluggish economy that characterized the first quarter, with consensus forecasts pointing to a 0.2% increase over the previous month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 30.39 points to 1,175.64. The Nasdaq Canada index declined 11.07 points to 353.09
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups remained lower on the day. Information technology shares sank 3.2%, while global base metals and their cousins in the metals and mining sector each dropped 2.8%.
The three gainers were gold, up 1.5%, materials, ahead 0.7%, and telecoms, up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell Monday as investors lowered their expectations for a key summit of European Union leaders later this week.
Adding to the pessimism, Greek Finance Minister Vassilis Rapanos, who has been hospitalized since Friday, resigned, and Cyprus became the fifth euro-zone country to seek a bailout.
The Dow Jones Industrials descended 138.12 points, or 1.1%, to 12,502.70
The S&P 500 swooned 20.64 points, or 1.6%, to 1,314.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index demurred 56.26 points, or nearly 2%, to 2,836.16
Bank of America, Microsoft and Caterpillar were the worst performers among Dow components. Wal-Mart managed small gains as investors gravitated toward shares of companies that are considered defensive, such as consumer staples.
Shares of the National Bank of Greece dropped 11%, and GREK, a Greek ETF, fell 9%.
Investors continue to punish BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion. The stock fell 7% on Monday, putting it in danger of falling below $9 U.S. a share.
Nokia was also taking a beating. Shares of the Finnish cell phone company were down 9% to $2.15 U.S. each.
Another ailing wireless giant, Sprint, was down 6%.
Shares of New Jersey-based Watson Pharmaceuticals rose on news that U.S. drug regulators gave it permission to produce generic forms of Adderall XR. Until now, Ireland's Shire has been the only producer of the drug, administered to those diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Shares of JC Penney fell amid ongoing worries about the retailer's management. Last week, the company announced that its president was stepping down after less than nine months on the job.
Chesapeake Energy faced continued speculation that the natural gas producer is a takeover target. Its stock plunged 9% after a Reuters investigation revealed that the company and its competitors artificially held down land prices.
All eyes will be firmly fixed on Europe this week, which culminates with a key two-day European Union summit starting Thursday. Hope is running high for leaders to put together a concrete plan. But expectations are low.
Moody's is preparing to downgrade the credit rating of several Spanish banks, according to Reuters. Shares of Santander and BBVA, the two largest Spanish banks, were both down about 5%.
Early Monday, Spain formally requested aid for its banking sector, as expected.
Economically speaking, new home sales for May rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate 369,000, according to government data. Sales were expected to come in at 350,000, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com, up from 343,000 in the prior month.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, pushing the yield down to 1.61% from 1.67% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for August delivery fell 39 cents to $79.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $6.80 to $1,573.10 U.S. an ounce.
