Stock prices stumbled in Toronto on Monday as oil prices fell due to worries about an oversupply in North America.
The S&P/TSX composite index gave back 35.87 points Monday to begin the last week of February at 15,136.37
The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 79.75 cents U.S.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International agreed to acquire gastrointestinal drug maker Salix Pharmaceuticals in an all-cash deal valued at about $10.1 billion. Valeant shares galloped $32.70, or 15%, to $250.11.
More than 2,000 unionized workers at the Lumwana copper mine in Zambia, owned by Barrick Gold, stopped work on Monday, demanding to know what will happen to them when the company closes the business, a government official said. Barrick Gold dropped two cents to $16.15.
Canadian National Railway said late on Sunday that it was unable to reach full agreement on a negotiated settlement with Unifor, the union representing 4,800 of its mechanical, clerical and intermodal staff, and would resume talks on Monday morning. Moreover, JP Morgan initiated coverage of the carrier with a neutral rating.
CN shares opened Monday off 71 cents to $86.99.
RBC cut the rating on West Fraser Timber Co. to sector perform from outperform. West Fraser fell $1.99, or 2.7%, to $72.00.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.84 points to 694.10
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower to start Monday, weighed by energy, down 1.7%, global base metals, off 1%, and financials, waning 0.9%.
The gainers were led by a 5.8% surge in health-care issues, while information technology shares acquired 0.5%, and real-estate proved more solid by 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower on Monday, amid near-resolution in the Greece bailout extension and anticipation of U.S. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's remarks over the next two days.
The Dow Jones Industrials turned south 57.64 points to 18,082.80, with Wal-Mart leading gains and Boeing the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 dipped 5.30 points to 2,105, with energy the greatest laggard and utilities leading four sectors higher.
The NASDAQ index weakened 6.94 points to 4,949.03
Goldman Sachs downgraded Boeing to sell from neutral, saying the jet maker is the most exposed in the industry to aircraft demand risk.
Apple hit another all-time high, above $130 U.S. a share. The iPhone maker will spend $1.9 billion U.S. to build two new European data centres, one in Ireland, the other in Denmark.
Major earnings reporting after the bell on Monday include Agrium, Express Scripts and Tenet Healthcare.
Google won dismissal of a lawsuit that had accused it of forcing Android phone makers to designate Google offerings as the default applications.
In an SEC filing, Goldman Sachs revealed it had received a letter from the U.S. attorney concluding that Goldman had violated federal law in connection with the underwriting and sales of residential mortgage backed securities. Goldman said "reasonably possible" legal costs could be $3 billion U.S. more than it currently has reserved.
In economic news, existing U.S. home sales dropped 4.9% in January, their lowest level in nine months.
Yellen testifies before both houses of Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Although many interpreted last week's Fed minutes as dovish, one expert said that Yellen will likely remind markets that a June rate
hike is still on the table.
Greece's left-wing government, led by Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras, was given a lifeline when the Eurogroup of euro-zone finance ministers reached a deal to extend the country's bailout by four months. To secure the financial lifeline, however, Greece must present a list of reform proposals on Monday.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries powered ahead, weighing yields to 2.08% from Friday’s 2.13%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.41 per barrel to $49.40 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $4.20 an ounce to $1,200.70 U.S.
