The Toronto stock market registered a small gain mid-morning Tuesday as further weak inflation data from the euro-zone raised expectations that the European Central Bank will take action to support a fragile recovery.
The S&P/TSX composite index reacquired 23.52 points to greet noon at 14,704.28
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.14 cents to 91.61 cents U.S.
HBC posted first-quarter net earnings from continuing operations of $176 million or 97 cents a share, compared with a loss of $22 million or 19 cents a share in the same quarter of 2013. Retail sales jumped to $1.85 billion, up from $884 million in the same quarter last year.
Same stores sales, which are stores that have been open for at least a year, were up 2.8% year-over-year but its shares gave back almost all of Monday's 1.5% advance, losing 42 cents to $16.85.
The base metals component declined, while July copper declined three cents to $3.14 U.S. a pound.
In other corporate developments, Element Financial Corp. will pay $1.4 billion U.S. cash to buy PHH Corp.'s North American fleet management services business.
PHH Arval had about $4.6 billion U.S. of assets as of March 31, including $4 billion U.S. invested in fleet leases. Element Financial shares fell 28 cents to $13.02.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 2.47 points to 980.94.
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, as consumer staples and financials each climbed 0.5%, while telecoms added 0.4%.
The seven laggards were led by metals and mining, weaker by 1.4%, health-care, off 1%, and materials, sliding 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
All three major U.S. indices fell in early trading despite better-than-anticipated data on US factory orders.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 34.55 points by noon Tuesday to 16,709.08
The S&P 500 dropped 3.67 points to 1,921.30, and the NASDAQ composite index dipped 13.72 points to 4,223.48
In company news, Hillshire Brands surged in early trading on news that the food company's board of directors authorized takeover discussions with potential buyers Pilgrim's Pride and Tyson Foods. Hillshire is trading up over 8%. Both Pilgrim's and Tyson shares are both flat.
Krispy Kreme shares dropped after reporting earnings that were in line with expectations but sales that were much lower than Wall Street expected to see. The stock is down more than 13.5%.
Shares in Google were weak, down more than 1.5%, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the tech giant plans to spend over $1 billion U.S. on a "fleet of satellites" designed to improve internet access in remote areas.
Apple is having a better day at its Worldwide Developers Conference, at least according to Wall Street. Shares are up nearly 1%. Yesterday Apple unveiled iOS 8 and a new health and home-related software.
Dollar General shares opened higher despite the retailer reported a modest quarterly gain in sales and profit that failed to meet expectations. Financial firm Sterne Agee & Leach downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy" and lowered its annual earnings expectations for the company.
Quiksilver shares fell as much as 45% this morning after a disastrous quarterly earnings report that showed the surf and beach apparel company losing much more money than analysts anticipated. The company has shed three fifths of its market valuation this year.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Census Bureau said factory orders increased 0.7% in April, a notch higher than expected and a sign that manufacturing output is continuing to improve. It's the third straight month of gains for the lagging indicator, and both orders and inventories are at their highest levels on record.
This comes after yesterday's twice-revised manufacturing index numbers that also showed expanded industrial activity in April.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dipped again, raising yields to 2.56% from Monday’s 2.53%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices regained 21 cents to $102.68 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained 60 cents to $1,244.60 U.S. an ounce.
