Equity markets in Canada’s largest centre were slightly higher in early trade on Tuesday, with gold and energy issues hiking, more than offsetting losses in health-care.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 28.7 points to 13,787.08
The Canadian dollar regained 0.26 cents at 77.06 cents U.S.
Thomson Reuters Corp has agreed to sell BoardLink, a digital meeting portal for directors of corporate boards, to Diligent Corp for $10 million, Diligent Chief Financial Officer Michael Stanton said on Monday. The deal will expand Diligent's portfolio of secure corporate governance and collaboration solutions for boards and senior executives.
Thomson shares gathered nine cents to $54.16.
BMO cut the target price on Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in its U.S.-listed stocks to $265.00 from $273.00, says although the company’s beat expectations in the third-quarter, the results showed that the legacy business had underperformed.
Valeant shares tumbled $11.98, or 5.6%, to $201.07.
Canadian Pacific Railway is out with Q3 earnings, projecting $2.67 per share. CP shares gained $2.54, or 1.3%, to $192.76.
Celestica projects Q3 earnings of 31 cents per share. Celestica opened lower by a nickel to $16.90.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported wholesale trade edged down 0.1% to $55.3 billion in August. Declines in four sub-sectors, in particular the machinery, equipment and supplies sub-sector, accounted for the decrease. Higher sales in the miscellaneous sub-sector partially offset these declines
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.05 points to 551.88
All but one of the 13 TSX subgroups moved higher to begin the session, as gold soared 2.6%, materials rocketed 1.8%, and energy gained 1.1%.
Only health-care failed to join in the festive mood, losing 1.6%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range Tuesday as Wall Street digested a slew of corporate earnings reports and U.S. housing starts data.
The Dow Jones industrial average faded 15.54 points to 17,215, led lower by IBM and United Technologies leading advancers.
The S&P 500 dipped 0.96 points to 2,032.70, with information technology leading five sectors lower and telecommunications leading advancers.
The NASDAQ index lost 7.72 points to 4,897.75, as Apple traded lower.
Blue-chip component IBM reported earnings per share that were slightly above estimates on Monday, but its revenues came in far below consensus, pushing the stock down more than 5% in early morning trading.
Dow members United Technologies, Travelers and Verizon reported quarterly results. Verizon and Travelers both beat Wall Street estimates for earnings and revenue, while United Technologies beat on earnings per share but missed on revenue.
In corporate news, Yum Brands announced it would spin off its China business into a separate, publicly traded company.
Amazon.com said it will create over 100,000 holiday season jobs, above last year's 80,000.
Aetna said its proposed takeover of Humana was approved by shareholders of both companies. The deal is expected to close in the second half of next year.
Investors also took in September housing starts data, which came in well above expectations at 1.206 million.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dipped, raising yields to 2.07% from Monday’s 2.03%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices squeezed up four cents a barrel to $45.93 U.S.
Gold prices recovered $7.83 to $1,178.64 U.S. an ounce.
