The Toronto stock market was lower Monday as investors looked at the prospect of additional sanctions being levied on Russia for its support of Ukrainian rebels who are being blamed for last week's downing of a Malaysian airliner.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 16.58 points to close at 15,249.99. The index hit a record high of 15,291.15 on Friday
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 93.17 cents U.S.
The TSX gold sector lost early momentum and finished slightly off
Barrick Gold fell 11 cents to $20.51, while Goldcorp shed 16 cents to $29.83.
The leading decliner was in consumer discretionary stocks, weighed mostly by Linamar Corporation, down $1.81, or 2.8%, to $62.48.
The base metals component turned positive, while September copper was up a penny at $3.20 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources grew 14 cents to $25.37.
The energy sector was down as Imperial Oil slid 52 cents to $57.04, and Suncor gave back three cents to $44.59.
Investors also looked for the pace of Canadian second quarter earnings reports to pick up this week. Canadian National Railways posts results after the close and expectations are high after Canadian Pacific Railway delivered a well-received report last Thursday.
CN shares dipped 13 cents to $72.95, while CP shares advanced 62 cents to $209.71.
Clashes broke out in the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as investigators sought access to the bodies of the victims of the Malaysian airliner shot down last week.
Meanwhile, Israeli jets, tanks and artillery pounded Gaza and Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel as the U.N. Security Council's calls for a truce were ignored.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 5.80 points to 1,006.44.
In all, 10 of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, weighed mostly by consumer discretionary stocks, down 0.7%, information technology, sliding 0.6%, and energy, off 0.4%.
The four gainers were led by health-care, zooming 1.3%, metals and mining, up 0.8%, and global base metals, gaining 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks have rallied rapidly this afternoon as concerns over Gaza and Ukraine seem to have abated.
The Dow Jones Industrials skidded 48.45 points to 17,051.73.
The S&P 500 fell 4.59 points to 1,973.63, and the NASDAQ composite demurred 7.45 points to 4,424.70
Fast food giants McDonald's and Yum! Brands -- which runs KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut -- are dealing with a new tainted meat scandal in China.
The pair has cut ties to a meat supplier that supposedly processed tainted beef and chicken. Yum shares are down 3.9% and McDonald's stock is off 1%.
Hedge fund activist investor Bill Ackman previewed on CNBC the latest salvo in his years-long war against nutritional supplement company Herbalife. He has alleged that the company is a pyramid scheme and has poured considerable resources into ensuring its downfall. He's giving what he calls his "most important presentation" ever on the stock tomorrow. It's down more than 10% today.
Investor darling GoPro, which debuted about a month ago and has been climbing ever since, got an initial "overweight" rating from JP Morgan Monday. The stock is up 3% so far today, and almost 80% higher than its IPO price.
The Wall Street Journal reported that hedge fund Elliott Management has taken a 2% stake in data storage company EMC Corp. The paper says Elliott wants EMC to spin off its popular VMware cloud storage business. EMC stock is the best performing stock in the S&P 500 Monday, up 5%.
Pharmaceutical companies Allergan and Valeant, which have been circling a potential merger for months, have both seen their stocks rise in afternoon trading.
The former, which reported strong quarterly earnings and announced that it would be cutting 13% of its workforce in an effort to create value for shareholders, is up 2%. The latter is up 3.3%.
Tobacco stocks are wilting in the face of a potential $23.6-billion U.S. jury award to the Florida widow of a man who died from lung cancer, but they bounced back somewhat.
Reynolds America is down 1%, and Lorillard, which Reynolds agreed to buy last week, is down 1.5%. Philip Morris and Altria Group are down around 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke on both crises in a statement, calling for a ceasefire in the deadly Gaza violence. On Ukraine, he said Russia was on watch as investigators seek to get to the bottom of what happened to Malaysia Airlines flight 17.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained some ground, lowering yields to 2.47% from Friday’s 2.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.68 to $104.81 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $3.50 to $1,312.80 U.S. an ounce.
