Canadian stocks moved modestly lower on Tuesday afternoon. Stocks in the U.S. and Euro-zone have also seen limited change throughout the day.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index spent some time in positive country in the later stages, before shedding 1.26 points on the day to 10,547.86. Strength in the mining and energy sectors failed to outweigh a drop for gold stocks.
Mining stocks are up as copper rallied 5% on the Comex. HudBay has added 0.6% and Teck Cominco was up 0.1%.
On the downside, Inmet Mining declined 8.4% after the company announced that it had increased its previously announced equity bought deal to $348 million.
Energy stocks were up as crude oil reached above $70 per barrel. Vermilion Energy Trust has rallied 3.7%, Suncor has added 2.6% and Savanna is up 1.7%.
Heritage Oil jumped 4.9% after the company announced that it has entered into a reverse-takeover deal with Genel Enerji A.S., a deal worth approximately $3 billion.
Gold stocks dropped after the precious metal surrendered most of its daily gains.
Agnico-Eagle Mines dropped 3.4% as its gold production cost could reportedly rise to between $300 and $350 per ounce next year.
Goldcorp declined 2.7% after the stock was downgraded to "neutral" from "buy" at UBS.
In other corporate news, Air Canada has climbed 2.9% after the company reached a tentative deal with three of its unions regarding pension funding, according to reports.
ADF Group slipped 3.9% after the construction steel-structures builder revealed its first-quarter earnings declined to $2.2 million or $0.06 per share from $3.2 million or $0.09 per share in the previous year.
Brick Brewing has soared nearly 23% after the company reported net income for the first quarter of $431,000 or $0.02 per share compared to a loss of $785,300 or a breakeven per share in the year-ago quarter.
Saputo added 2.2% after announcing higher fourth quarter revenues. The dairy processor also reported earnings of $0.33 per share, down from $0.36 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Methanex progressed 2.9% after the company said it bought the rights to natural gas production in Chile, according to Bloomberg.
The Canadian dollar was in ahead 1.10 cents to 90.68 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, nine were positive. Utilities and consumer staples led the charge, up 1.4% each. Energy was next at 1.3%.
The four laggards were gold, off 1.9%, health-care and materials subsided 0.6% each.
The TSX Venture Exchange was ahead 12.14 points to 1,143.96 while the Nasdaq Canada Index went higher by 4.13 points to 786.78
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, the Nasdaq rallied Tuesday, while the broader market was little changed, after the government said 10 of the largest banks could pay back loans and after a positive Treasury auction cooled worries about rising borrowing costs.
The Dow Jones Industrials average tailed off 1.43 points to 8,763.06
The S&P 500 index rebounded 3.29 points to 942.43, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lifted itself 17.73 points, to 1,860.13.
The Nasdaq’s advance comes after chipmaker Texas Instruments boosted its quarterly sales and earnings outlook late Monday.
Stocks were mixed throughout the session after the government said 10 banks were well-enough capitalized to pay back a collective $68 billion U.S. in loans. But stocks moved to the highs of the session after a strong response to the government's auction of $35 billion U.S. in three-year securities.
Stocks have been on the rise since early March, with the Dow having risen over 32%, the S&P 39% and the Nasdaq 46%, as of Monday's close.
The gains have been sparked by a series of not-as-bad-as-expected economic reports. However, recently, the focus has shifted to whether rising Treasury bond yields could put a damper on a recovery, forcing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.
Although stocks have been drifting a bit and could see more of a pull back over the next few weeks, the tone remains positive, said Steven Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co.
"Overall, I think stocks will continue to find buyers on pullbacks and the trend will remain up," he said.
Goldman said that historically, stocks tend to gain six months ahead of the end of a recession and for the first three months after a recession is over. Using data that goes back to 1901, he found that the S&P was always higher in the three months after a recession ended.
The Supreme Court delayed the sale of Chrysler's assets to Italian automaker Fiat, in a late-Monday move that threw a wrench into the automaker's plans for a quick exit from bankruptcy.
Under terms of the agreement, Fiat can ditch the deal if it is not finished by June 15. However, the company said Tuesday it won't walk away from Chrysler.
Morgan Stanley. American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon, BB&T, Capital One, Northern Trust, State Street and US Bancorp have confirmed that they are allowed to repay loans. But only AmEx, BB&T and Capital One shares posted solid gains.
The gains in Texas Instruments spread to other large chip makers, including Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
General Motors rallied 23% after it said that the former chairman and CEO of AT&T will be its new chairman when it emerges from bankruptcy later this summer.
The Dow ended near unchanged, as strength in tech and commodity shares was tempered by weakness in aerospace and defense names Boeing and United Technologies.
On the economic front, wholesale inventories fell 1.4% in April, more than the 1.1% drop expected in a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Treasury prices inched higher, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.86% from 3.88% late Monday. Treasury bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for July delivery rose $1.92 to settle at $70.01 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, settling above $70 a barrel for the first time since November.
COMEX gold for August delivery rose $2.20 to settle at $954.70 U.S. an ounce.
