Stocks in Toronto opened in the red on St. Patrick’s Day – not the green – as concerns about oversupply hit oil prices and weighed on shares of energy producers.
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 89.70 points, to begin business Tuesday at 14,773.06
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.02 cents to 78.29cents U.S.
A new privately held Malaysian airline intends to buy 20 CS100 aircraft from Bombardier Inc for $1.5 billion U.S., in what could be the Canadian plane maker's first order in Southeast Asia for its long-delayed CSeries passenger jet program.
Bombardier shares hiked 10 cents, or 4%, to $2.59.
National Bank Financial resumes coverage on Encana with a sector perform rating. Encana shares hesitated six cents to $13.95.
Raymond James raises the rating on Legumex Walker to outperform from market perform. Legumex shares gave back a nickel, or 1.6%, to $3.05.
CIBC cut the rating on Dorel Industries to underperform from sector performer. Dorel shares tumbled $1.21, or 3.4%, to $34.75.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales in this country fell 1.7% in January due mostly to a price-induced decline of 11.9% in sales of petroleum and coal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 0.64 points to 663.20
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups went lower in the first hour, with metals and mining losing 1.5% of their strength, consumer staples sliding 1.4%, and financials falling 1.1%.
Only utilities gained, picking up 0.2%, while global base metals were unchanged soon after the opening bell.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower on Tuesday as investors eyed weak housing data ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's two-day meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 150.24 points to 17,823.71. Caterpillar was the greatest laggard as all blue chips except Coca-Cola fell.
The S&P 500 jettisoned 10.30 points to 2,070.89, with financials leading nine sectors lower and utilities the only advancer.
The NASDAQ index subtracted 8.88 points to 4,920.63
DSW beat estimates by seven cents with adjusted quarterly profit of 35 cents U.S. per share, with sales easily beating estimates. DSW saw comparable store sales rise 7.6%, and it also raised its quarterly dividend to 20 cents per share from 18.75 cents U.S. per share.
Burlington Stores reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.43 U.S. per share, 11 cents above estimates, with revenue also exceeding forecasts. Burlington saw comparable store sales rise 6.7% from a year earlier.
Alibaba was upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus to buy from hold and added to the Stifel "Select List." Stifel cites long-term benefits from improvements to the online retailer's platform, and notes its multiples compare favorably to those of competitor Amazon.com.
EBay has launched a live auction platform for Sotheby's, with the first sale scheduled for April 1.
American Airlines was named to replace Allergan in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on March 20. Allergan is in the process of being purchased by Actavis.
Housing starts fell 17% in February to the lowest level in a year as harsh winter weather took its toll. More encouragingly, building permits rose 3% and January housing starts were revised slightly higher to 1.08 million.
The FOMC meeting kicks off Tuesday, with its highly anticipated statement and press conference expected on Wednesday afternoon. Investors are looking at whether or not "patient" remains in the statement as an indication of when short-term interest rates might go up.
The U.S. dollar continued to ease, falling more than 1% in early trade, while the euro edged above $1.06.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.07% from Monday’s 2.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in
opposite directions.
Oil prices went lower 69 cents to $43.19 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $10.40 to $1,142.80 U.S.
