Stocks in Toronto moved slightly downward on Monday with shares of energy companies climbing on higher oil prices and miners get
The S&P/TSX composite index shed 0.80 points to greet noon at 14,941.61
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.16 cents to 79.91 cents U.S.
Rebounding commodities helped the Toronto stock market's benchmark index record a 1.4% gain last week.
Shares of oil producers advanced. Suncor Energy added 1.4% to C$35.94, and Canadian Natural Resources climbed 1.3% to $37.70.
The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, was up as Teck Resources gained 2.3% to $19.32, and First Quantum Minerals was up 2.3%, at $15.36.
Industrials wavered, as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific railways each ditched 2.6%. CN faces noon hour at $83.66 and CP at $231.58.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 1.65 points to 672.24
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were gainers by midday, with energy up 1.5%, global base metals ahead 1.3%, metals and mining gaining 1.1%
The four laggards were weighed most by industrials, down 1.4%, information technology, sliding 0.6%, and consumer discretionaries, off 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Monday as investors looked ahead to a light week of economic reports amid some consolidation in currency and oil movements.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 35.80 points to 18,163.45 by noon, following a 168-point gain on Friday, with Pfizer leading gains and Boeing the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 added 3.11 points to 2,111.21. The NASDAQ index deducted 1.89 points to 5,024.52.
Stifel downgraded Biogen to hold, stating that the pharmaceutical company has reached a reasonable price target for the next 12 months.
UBS upgraded Staples to buy, noting a favorable risk and reward proposition. The investment bank thinks the office supplies retailer will "more likely than not" be able to close its acquisition of Office Depot.
Jefferies added Pfizer to its "Franchise Picks" list, noting it expects the firm to show significant appreciation over the next one to two years based on better-than-expected launch of breast cancer drug Ibrance. The investment bank also saw potential for more merger and acquisition activity.
Cliffs Natural Resources announced it will sell Chromite assets in Canada to a local mining company, Noront Resources, for $20 million.
Tenet Healthcare and United Surgical Partners International will combine to create the largest provider of ambulatory surgery in the United States in a cash and debt transaction valued at $1.93 billion U.S..
Economically speaking, existing home sales in February were up 1.2%, to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, slightly below expectations. No other economic data is expected Monday.
In the next few days, inflation data, durable goods and the third read on fourth-quarter GDP round out a relatively light week of reports, with few companies reporting earnings.
Greece debt talks also remained in focus as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were set to meet in Berlin.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries lost ground, raising yields back to Friday’s 1.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on 46 cents to $47.03 U.S.
Gold prices inched forward 10 cents to $1,184.70 U.S.
