After a gain topping 170 points Friday, markets were gasping for air at the start of a new week, with national macroeconomic figures playing mildly into the mix.
The S&P/TSX composite index subtracted 23.08 points to open Monday at 14,204.60
The Canadian dollar eked higher 0.10 cents at 88.69 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, embroiled in a bitter fight to take over Botox-maker Allergan Inc, posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by strong sales in all its markets. Valeant shares climbed $5.33, or 3.9%, to $140.77.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd said it had ended talks to buy number-three U.S. railroad operator CSX Corp. CP shares dropped $3.12, or 1.4%, to $221.87.
CIBC raised the target price on Fairfax Financial Holdings to $450.00 from $425.00, with an underperform rating. Fairfax shares gained $1.98 to $503.00.
Global Hunter Securities resumed coverage on Xtreme Drilling and Coil Services with an accumulate rating, and a price target of $3.70. Xtreme shares surrendered four cents to $3.23.
Economically speaking, wholesale sales edged up 0.2% to $53.1 billion in August. Statistics Canada noted that gains in three sub-sectors -- machinery, equipment and supplies, more than offset declines elsewhere. Excluding the motor vehicle and parts sub-sector, which recorded the largest decline, wholesale sales rose 1.0%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.84 points to 810.97.
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were positive in the first hour, with health-care leading the charge, up 1.5%, gold shining 1% brighter, and telecoms up 0.7%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by energy, 0.5% less energetic, consumer staples, down 0.3%, and industrials, off 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks endured a shaky start Monday, despite gains in energy and materials sectors, as investors digested a slew of earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 86.47 points at the outset to 16,293.94.
The S&P 500 inched up 0.58 points to 1,887.34. The NASDAQ index gained 15.78 points to 4,274.22.
Monday’s movement in the Dow industrial came as one of its major components, IBM, posted disappointing quarterly results, pushing shares of the tech giant lower and dragging down the index.
IBM earnings missed analysts’ expectations, and shares skidded more than 7%. IBM is the second-biggest component in the Dow industrials.
IBM also said it will sell its global semiconductor technology business to Globalfoundries, paying $1.5 billion U.S. in cash to the company over the next three years and will reflect a pre-cash tax charge of $4.7 billion U.S. in its third-quarter results.
IBM’s faltering stock also may deliver a $1-billion U.S. hit to prominent investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which is the largest shareholder in the tech giant, with more than 70 million shares.
Shares of Hasbro Inc. rose 1.8%, after quarterly results came in better than expected.
Halliburton Co. shares rose 1.3% after third-quarter results were better than Wall Street had expected.
After the close, Apple Inc. and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. will report results. Apple is projected to report fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $1.31 U.S. a share on sales of $40 billion U.S, according to a consensus survey.
Apple also starts rolling out its Apple Pay system on Monday, though The Wall Street Journal points out the biggest gap is department-store cards.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.16% from Friday’s 2.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 34 cents to $82.41 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $7.80 to $1,246.80 U.S. an ounce.
