The Toronto stock market was little changed Monday as shares in BlackBerry plunged after its largest shareholder said it won't be taking the tech company private.
The S&P/TSX composite index finished ahead 24.32 points to 13,361.78
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 95.99 cents U.S.
BlackBerry shares tumbled $1.35, or 16.7%, to $6.74, its lowest level in a decade, after Fairfax Financial said it will lead a group that will provide the smartphone company with at least $1 billion U.S. and up to $1.25 billion U.S. of convertible debt. BlackBerry will stay as a public company.
Fairfax had announced in late September that it would lead a consortium to pay $9 U.S. per share for BlackBerry, a proposed deal that was subject to many conditions.
Under this new arrangement, Thorsten Heins will be replaced as BlackBerry CEO on an interim basis by John Chen, who will also be the chairman of the BlackBerry board.
BlackBerry pushed the TSX tech sector down 2.6%. But elsewhere in the sector, Celestica rose 25 cents to $11.51.
Elsewhere, the telecom sector lost 0.5% with Telus down 26 cents to $36.23.
The financial sector lost 0.3% as Fairfax shares lost 2.3% to $424.73.
The energy sector edged 0.3% lower.
The gold index was up 1.6% as Kinross Gold moved up 24 cents, or 4.8%, to $5.24.
The base metals sector was ahead 0.5% while December copper lost five cents to $3.25 U.S. a pound. Lundin Mining rose 17 cents to $4.78.
Meanwhile, investors will take in plenty of earnings reports this week including WestJet Tuesday, pipeline company Enbridge and auto parts giant Magna International on Wednesday.
Thursday is the heaviest day for earnings as traders will hear from Tim Hortons BCE, Canadian Tire, Canadian Natural Resources and insurance giants Sun Life Financial Manulife Financial and Great West Lifeco
The most important data of the week comes out Friday — October employment data for Canada and the U.S.
Economists looked for Canadian job creation to come in at a modest 10,000 with an uptick in the jobless rate from 6.9% to 7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid into the red 2.75 points to 952.58
ON WALLSTREET
The market has been riding a huge wave of momentum, and investors continued to push stocks higher at the start of the week.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 23.57 points to 15,639.10.
The S&P 500 index gained 6.29 points to 1,767.93. The NASDAQ finished up 14.55 points to 3,936.59
As the broader market edged slightly higher, there were some high-profile public companies making news.
BlackBerry shares tumbled more than 16% after the company said it has abandoned its plan to sell itself.
Instead, BlackBerry is receiving an investment of $1 billion U.S. from majority shareholder Fairfax Financial.
The troubled Canadian smartphone maker also said that Thorsten Heins is stepping down as CEO, and that John Chen, former CEO of Sybase, will serve as interim chief. Chen was also appointed executive chair of BlackBerry's board of directors.
Meanwhile, shares of J.C. Penney continued to rebound following last week's 20% advance.
Shares of Tesla surged 8%. The stock was hit hard in October on concerns about its valuation. But investors are hoping the electric car maker will report strong earnings after the closing bell Tuesday.
Twitter raised the price range for its initial public offering to $23 to $25 U.S. per share, from a previous range of $17 to $20 U.S. This is a sign of strong demand for Twitter's IPO.
At the high end of the new range, Twitter would be valued at $13.6 billion U.S.
Twitter is expected to make its stock market debut later this week. The social network's IPO was a hot topic on StockTwits, especially in how it compares to Facebook as an investment.
In economic news, factory orders for both August and September were below expectations.
Investors will also get their first look at U.S. gross domestic product for the third quarter. The GDP report, due out Thursday, does not include the impact that the government shutdown had on the economy.
But on Friday, the government will release the jobs report for October. That report could show softness in hiring because of uncertainty related to the shutdown and fears of a possible U.S. debt default.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.60% from Friday’s 2.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 18 cents to $94.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained a dollar to $1,314.20 U.S. an ounce.
