The Toronto stock market was higher Tuesday afternoon but well below levels earlier in the day as commodity prices retreated in the wake of more data that suggest a slowing U.S. economy
The S&P TSX Composite Index finished the day ahead 107.67 points or nearly 1% at 11,200.17
Bargain hunters scooping up stocks beaten down during a string of recent losses had earlier sent the main index up as much as 177 points.
Economic reports have routinely fallen short of economist forecasts in recent months. That has investors worried that the growth is not coming as quickly as expected and any expansion will be slow for a prolonged period.
Economic worries pushed the TSX down just under 100 points Monday to its lowest level since early November 2009. As of Monday’s close, the main index was down almost 1,200 points or almost 10% from late April, its highest level for the year.
On Tuesday, the TSX energy sector was up as Suncor Energy gained 36 cents to $31.11 and Canadian Natural Resources improved by 68 cents to $34.69.
Copper prices were also on the rise, but by the afternoon had shed about half of early gains.
The base metals sector rose three per cent as the September contract on the Nymex was ahead five cents to $2.97 U.S. a pound. On the TSX, Teck Resources rose $1.37 to $31.64 and Quadra FNX Mining ran up 43 cents to $9.48.
Financials were also a major gainer, as Royal Bank moved up $1.03 to $52.18 and Scotiabank climbed $1.15 to $49.00.
The gold sector dropped in strength, as Barrick Gold Corp. dipped 57 cents to $45.38 while Goldcorp Inc. faded 80 cents to $42.80.
The Jean Coutu Group (PJC) Inc. more than quadrupled its first-quarter profit, as the Quebec-based pharmacy chain increased revenue and continued to shake off the effects of its investment in Rite-Aid. Net income came in at $43.2 million or 18 cents a share with $642.9 million in revenue for the quarter ended May 29
The earnings per share matched analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters but revenue fell short of expectations. The consensus estimate on revenue was $667.9 million and its shares rose 23 cents to $8.41.
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. says it now has a 52.1% majority stake in Spider Resources after purchasing about 316 million common shares as part of a friendly takeover attempt. Cliffs also says it plans to extend the offer until July 16 at 11:59 p.m. ET to allow more shares to be tendered to the offer. Spider shares were unchanged at 18.5 cents on heavy volume of 10.5 million shares.
In economic news, Canadian building permits fell much more than expected on May following two consecutive monthly increases, data from Statistics Canada revealed today. Municipalities issued building permits worth $6.0 billion in May, a 10.8% decline from April.
Economists were looking for a modest decline of 2% following an upwardly revised increase of 5.9% in April and a 12.3% advance in March.
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.93 cents at 94.84 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but threethe 14 TSX subgroups ended the day higher. Metals and mining led the charge, up 3.7%, financials next at 2.2%, and energy stocks gained 1.5%.
Gold weighed the heaviest of the three laggards, falling 1.8%, while materials fell back 0.8%, and information technology inched back 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange eased back 8.70 by the final bell to 1,347.52 while the Nasdaq Canada index was down 4.95 points to 575.09.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, Dow ended higher Tuesday, finishing a volatile session with gains and breaking its seven-session losing streak as investors scooped up certain shares hit in the recent bloodletting.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 57.14 points to 9,743.62
The S&P 500 index gained 5.48 points to 1,028.06
The Nasdaq composite index moved 2.09 points higher to 2,093.88
Stocks rallied through the early afternoon, slipped in the mid-afternoon, and seesawed erratically in the last hour of trading.
Selling in retail, transportation and select technology stocks was countered by strength in financial and energy shares.
Concerns about the health of the U.S. economy and what hits it might take from the European debt crisis have dragged on stocks in recent months. On Friday, the major indexes closed at multi-month lows as investors pulled back ahead of a long holiday weekend.
All U.S. financial markets were closed Monday in celebration of Independence Day.
Initially, investors followed European markets higher, but stocks ended up losing momentum as the day wore on.
Since peaking in late April, the Dow is down just under 14%, the S&P 500 is off 16% and the Nasdaq is off 17%.
Shares of BP, the beleaguered oil company, rallied 6% after a report said Libya's sovereign wealth fund might invest in the company and the company announced that it would not issue new shares to cover costs associated with the oil spill.
Some experts said that the fallout from the oil spill was also continuing to drag on the markets as investors worried about the depth of the damage to the economy.
Economically speaking, the Institute for Supply Management's index on the services sector of the economy fell to 53.8 in June from 55.4 in May. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected it to fall to 55. Still, any reading above 50 signals expansion in the sector.
Treasury prices moved higher, lowering yields on the 10-year note to 2.93% from Friday’s 2.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil moved higher by a penny to $72.15 U.S.
Gold prices eased $14 to $1,194 U.S. an ounce.
