Stocks in Canada’s biggest market endured a lower open on Monday, as investors remained cautious ahead of Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.
The S&P/TSX composite fell 15.63 points to open Monday at 12,364.78
The Canadian dollar shed 0.14 cents to 100.28 cents U.S.
Silver Wheaton Corp's third-quarter profit fell $119.7 million, or 34 cents per share, from $135 million, or 38 cents per share, a year earlier.
Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., the largest-interest owner of the Syncrude Project, said that Syncrude's oil sands operations produced an average of 320,500 barrels-per-day in October, up from 318,900 bpd in September.
Elsewhere, Husky Energy Inc. reported that an equipment malfunction in a diesel hydrotreater unit caused flaring at its 155,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Lima, Ohio, according to a filing with the U.S. National Response Center.
Canada said it has extended its review of a $15.1-billion bid by China's CNOOC for energy producer Nexen Inc. by a month to Dec. 10.
Israel is still open to considering an acquisition of Israel Chemicals by Potash Corporation
TransCanada Corp. said its Mexican unit was awarded a $400-million contract from Mexico's federal power company to build the El Oro to Mazatlan pipeline.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported this morning that the value of building permits fell 13.2% to $6.5 billion in September, following a 9.5% advance in August.
The nation’s number crunchers said the decline was mainly the result of the non-residential sector, where the value of permits in all three components fell.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 2.98 points to 1,307.05.
Of the 14 Toronto subgroups, eight were higher at the outset, led by information technology and gold, each up 0.9%, while metals and mining gained 0.7%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by health-care, off 0.5%, energy, down 0.4%, and financials, sliding 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were little changed Monday morning, as investors hit the pause button ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 49.23 points to begin the day at 13,043.90, while the S&P 500 moved lower 5.47 to 1,408.73, and the Nasdaq Composite Index was off 4.14 points at 3,011.60
Disney, which announced a $4-billion U.S. merger with Lucasfilm last week, was the top gainer on the Dow. Home Depot was also strong as investors bet the home improvement retailer would benefit from reconstruction in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Financial stocks, such as American Express and JPMorgan, were among the worst performing blue chips early Monday.
The latest polls indicates a dead heat in the race for the White House, with 49% of likely voters questioned in support of President Obama and an equal amount saying they back former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.
In corporate news, Humana posted earnings that beat analysts' expectations and also boosted its forecast for the year.
Time Warner Cable earnings missed expectations, as the company lost 140,000 cable TV subscribers during the third quarter.
Transocean shares edged higher after the world's largest offshore drilling rig contractor reported a better-than-expected profit for the third quarter.
Electric car maker Tesla reported mixed results. The company's quarterly loss widened from a year ago, and was wider than analysts were expecting. Tesla's revenue declined from a year earlier, but topped forecasts.
Economically speaking, the Institute for Supply Management will release its services sector index later Monday morning. It is expected to come in at 55.0, down from 55.1 a month ago, according to a survey of economists by Briefing.com.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged higher, pushing the yield down to 1.69% from 1.73% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $84.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $5.80 per ounce to $1,681.10 U.S.
