The Toronto stock market was higher Monday as energy and gold stocks took off on rising prices for oil and bullion.
The S&P/TSX composite index stayed positive 16.78 points – off its highs of the day -- to close Monday at 15,100.70
The Canadian dollar surged 0.48 cents to 80.23 cents U.S.
The TSX energy sector was up another, building on last week's 12% run-up, as Imperial Oil was down 51 cents, or 1%, to $50.29.
Oil prices have essentially stopped going straight down after plunging more than 50% since the highs of last summer. Oil prices rose 7% last week despite data showing U.S. inventories at 80-year highs.
The gold sector was ahead as Goldcorp picked up 58 cents, or 2%, to $29.22.
The base metals sector was ahead as March copper was off a penny $2.59 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gained 55 cents, or 3%, to $18.62.
Tahoe Resources Inc. and Rio Alto Mining are planning to merge their businesses to create a mid-sized silver and gold producer. Tahoe's offer values Rio Alto at about $1.3 billion, based on Friday stock prices for the two companies. Rio Alto shares charged ahead 37 cents, or 11.3%, to $3.65 while Tahoe fell $1.64, or 9.3%, to $16.00.
Economically speaking, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported this morning that housing starts rose to a seasonally-adjusted 187,276 in January, increasing 4.3% from December
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.75 points to 696.19
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down on the day, with telecoms slumping 1%, health-care wilting 0.8%, and industrials losing 0.7%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by energy, surging 1.8%, gold, up 1.3%, and the metals and mining group, gaining 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed down on Monday despite oil settling higher, as concerns about Greece continued to weigh.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 95.08 points to finish at 17,729.21, with Wal-Mart leading decliners and Caterpillar the greatest blue-chip advancer.
The S&P 500 dropped 8.73 points to 2,046.74, with energy the only advancer and health care leading decliners
The NASDAQ index subtracted 18.39 points to 4,726.01.
The fast-food giant McDonald's reported global same-store sales shrank 1.8% last month, which was worse than analysts had been expecting. The stock fell more than 1% on the news and was among the Dow laggards.
Microsoft was inundated with more than $26 billion U.S. of investor orders for a jumbo bond deal on Monday with buyside accounts attracted by what they described as extraordinarily generous new issue concessions for such a marquee issuer.
Apple plans to hold its first Swiss franc-denominated bond sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. The paper said the sale could come as soon as tomorrow, and the Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse will manage it.
Hasbro reported quarterly earnings of an adjusted $1.22 U.S. per share, beating estimates by one cent, with revenue slightly below forecasts. Hasbro said foreign exchange hurt fourth quarter revenue by more than $75 million U.S. Separately, Hasbro raised its quarterly dividend to 46 cents per share from 43 cents U.S.
Masco earned an adjusted 24 cents U.S. per share for its latest quarter, four cents above estimates, with revenue slightly below Street forecasts. The maker of building products said it is benefiting from cost controls and better productivity.
CNA Financial, Lowes's largest subsidiary, reported a 10% fall in profit due to lower net written premiums.
Over the weekend, China reported that exports fell 3.3% in January from a year earlier, while imports slumped by 19.9%, both missing expectations by a wide margin, and resulting in a record monthly trade surplus of $60 billion U.S.
Greece's new leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Sunday in his election pledge that he would end the country's "cruel" austerity program and ruled out an extension of international bailout.
Starting Wednesday, Greek banks will not be able to use Greek government bonds as collateral in daily refinancing operations with the European Central Bank.
Shares on the Athens Stock Exchange tumbled about 5% on Monday.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged, raising yields to 1.95% from Friday’s 1.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $1.14 per barrel to $52.83 U.S.
Gold prices improved $5.90 an ounce to $1,240.50 U.S.
