Equities in Toronto fell on Monday, hurt by a decline in shares of telecoms providers following news of a new spectrum auction and sluggishness in the natural resource sectors after commodity prices weakened.
The S&P/TSX composite index was off its lows of the day, but still finished south of breakeven by 42.03 points to end Monday at 15,172.93
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.24 cents to 93.67 cents U.S.
The federal government said it will auction more prime wireless spectrum early next year, with more than half the airwaves set aside for newer players that have struggled to win business from the country's three dominant telecom companies.
Speculation about an earlier-than-expected rise in U.S. interest rates also weighed on investor sentiment.
Shares of energy producers gave back strength, with Encana shedding 2.5% to $23.80 and Talisman Energy losing 1.7% to $10.89.
The gold-mining sector was down, reflecting weakness in the price of the commodity. Goldcorp slipped 0.3% to $29.25.
Telecoms shares declined after the spectrum auction news. Telus dropped 1.6% to $39.28, and Rogers Communications was down 1.5% to $42.36.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that municipalities issued building permits worth $6.9 billion in May, up 13.8% from April. This followed a 2.2% rise in the previous month.
The hike in May’s permits resulted primarily from higher construction intentions for commercial buildings in Ontario and Manitoba, as well as multi-family dwellings in British Columbia.
Western University's Richard Ivey School of Business said its Purchasing Managers Index by the end of June 2014 stood at 46.9. The corresponding Ivey PMI figure for May 2014 was 48.2, compared to 55.3 for June 2013, and 49.0 for June 2012
The PMI solicits whether business purchases last month were higher, the same, or lower than the previous month, and a figure above 50 shows an increase while below 50 shows a decrease.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 7.13 points to 1,030.63.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on the day, as telecoms fell 1%, energy slid 0.9%, and industrials tailed off 0.8%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by metals and mining, up 1.6%, information technology, strengthening 0.8%, and global base metals, spiking 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Monday threw water on the embers of last week's fireworks.
The Dow Jones Industrials let go of 44.05 points to close at 17.024.21
The S&P 500 eased back 7.79 points to 1,977.65, and the NASDAQ composite fell 34.40 points to 4,451.53.
Markets were shut down Friday for the July 4 holiday.
Today's dip comes after a record-setting close last week that saw Dow finish above 17,000 for the first time ever
This week marks the start of "earnings season," which is when America's biggest companies release updates on their revenues and income and give a peek into the shape of the U.S. economy in the second quarter. As more attention shifts to the health of companies and whether their stock prices are truly justified.
Here are some things to watch throughout today's trading:
King Digital, the company behind the viral monster Candy Crush, enjoyed a brief moment of joy when it finally opened above its $22.50 U.S. IPO price more than three months after it started trading in late March. Shares on that disastrous first day dropped more than 15%. The stock opened about 4% higher this morning, but it swung to a 2% drop.
BlackBerry's shares are up almost 6% in afternoon trading. The Economic Times of India reported over the weekend that the company would soon announce a joint health care services platform with tech firm Nathhealth.
India is an important market for BlackBerry's Asia Pacific division, which is the smallest division but made 15.6% of the firm's revenue in the last quarter.
Expedia's stock was lower after it announced yesterday that it bought Australian travel website Wotif.com for $658 million U.S.
Australia-listed shares in Wotif, which operates throughout Southeast Asia, rose 25% on the news. Expedia is trading at an all-time high of around $82 U.S. Several analysts have recently upgraded the stocks price target to above $90 U.S.
Archer Daniels Midland, a big food and commodities company, purchased Wild Flavors for about $3.1 billion U.S. Wild makes the popular Capri Sun juice, among other things. ADM's stock is one of the rare bright spots so far in today's trading. It was up nearly 2%.
Delta stock was down more than 4% Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day, the company told Bloomberg and the Associated Press that it would be reducing its air travel after Venezuela due to a currency dispute.
In its most recent quarterly filing, the company said Venezuela hadn't repatriated about $180 million U.S. Last week, the company released lower than expected travel number.
Petsmart stock was slightly higher Monday. The company said vaguely in a filing that it was considering ways to give money back to shareholders, though no concrete plans have been developed.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.62% from Thursday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 59 cents to $103.47 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices skidded $1.20 to $1,319.40 U.S. an ounce.
