Bay Street lost a little bit of momentum today as concern over the health of European banks, Canadian stimulus packages and health care stocks were a drag on the market.
The S&P/TSX Composite closed down 14.26 points, or 0.12%, to 12,190.60.
In Economic News -- Canada's government said on Monday it would take action as needed to protect the shaky economic recovery, but will be very careful in any decision to prolong stimulus spending as the government must turn its attention to tackling its budget deficit. The government has said projects under its economic action plan must be completed by the conclusion of the government's fiscal year on March 31.
The costs of owning a home rose across Canada in the second quarter, though levels are still within the safe range for the market, a survey by RBC found.
The RBC Housing Affordability Measure looks at how much of a household's pre-tax income is needed to service the costs of owning a home. Owning a standard two-story home saw the biggest increase in costs gaining 2.1 percentage points to 48.9%, while the cost of a detached bungalow was up 1.9 percentage points to 42.9%.
It was the fourth consecutive gain in the measure, which has now reversed about half of the improvements in housing affordability made in 2008 and 2009, RBC said.
Statistics Canada reported today that Canadians ordered $15.1 billion in goods and services on the internet last year, up from $12.8 billion in 2007.
Lower production guidance from Canadian Oil Sands Trust hurt the stock today as possible distribution cuts apparently upset investors; driving the price to close down 3% today.
The Tablet Arrives -- Research In Motion unveiled its tablet computer today and hopes will overtake Apple's iPad, highlighting its strong potential media,gaming and corporate use.
TELUS continues to lead wireless providers; hits another new 52-week high at $45.06.
Merger & Acquisition News in Canada -- The possible merger of Canadian drug maker Biovail Corp. merge with California-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International is "doomed to fail" under a huge debt load, Biovail founder Eugene Melnyk says. In separate votes, shareholders of the two companies approved the merger today. Biovail's shares which rose in the months ahead of the vote, were down 1.9% today.
More on Potash -- A judge in Chicago ruled today that a hearing can proceed into Potash's lawsuit against BHP Billiton, despite BHP's attempt to have the case dismissed. U.S. District Court Judge David Coar scheduled the hearing to take place in Chicago on Nov. 4.
Bank of Nova Scotia announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland's Chilean wholesale banking operations, extending the Canadian bank's footprint in Latin America. Final terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but Scotiabank reported that it will take on about $900 million in assets upon completion of the transaction. Shares of BNS are trading up .17% to $53.94.
Technology News -- India and Research In Motion will succeed in negotiating a compromise to keep RIM's BlackBerry service in place in the country, Canadian Federal Trade Minister Peter Van Loan suggested Friday. Shares of T.RIM are down 1.10% to $49.56.
Bell Canada (owned by BCE, Inc.) announced this morning that it reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit over late charges billed to some of its customers in Ontario. Shares of BCE are trading up .33% to $33.88.
Gold Stocks Down -- Gold-mining shares are down this morning as investors may be seeing this as a good opportunity to secure some gains.
Goldcorp fell .36% to $44.77, Kinross has slipped .57% in morning trading to $19.32. Barrick Gold is down .38% to $47.27.
The Canadian dollar is slipping against the U.S. dollar and trading down .00259 of a cent to .972555 cents US.
ON BAYSTREET
Eight of the TSX Subgroups closed in the green today. Info tech stocks led the way; up 1.39%, metals and mining issues closed up 1.04% and utilities closed up .43%.
On the downside -- Health care led the laggards; down .92%, consumer staples closed down .84% and gold issues closed down .79%.
The TSX Venture Exchange closed down by 4.92 points, to 1694.63, while the Nasdaq Canada index closed red as well; down 3.60 points to 615.50.
ON WALLSTREET
Wall Street gave a little back today as stocks fell following four green weeks, as concerns over European banks weighed on the financial sector and offset a whirlwind of merger news. Dow still likely to be a September to remember as analysts feel this is just a pause in action.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 48.14 points, or .44% at 10,812.04. The S&P 500 closed down by 6.51 points, or .57%, to 1142.16. The NASDAQ closed down as well; down 11.45 points, or .48%, to 2369.77.
Twenty-four of the Dow’s 30 components were lower. Bank of America Corp led the laggards, down 2.65% to $13.24 as AT&T led the gainers; up 1.01% to $28,87. Financials, industrials and health care sectors declined, while telecom and utilities climbed higher.
IBM is purchasing BLADE Network Technologies, a privately-held company that was spun-off from Nortel Networks a few years ago. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Barron’s reported that a source familiar with details of the deal said the transaction was valued at roughly US$400-million.
Wireless Providers are doing well this afternoon -- Verizon is up .95% to $32.95 and Sprint is up 4.28% to $4.63
Air Stocks continue -- LUV now flying high; up 11.24% to $13.66.
Merger News -- Sanofi-Aventis -- The French biotech is looking to arrange more funding to potentially raise its $18.5 billion bid for Genzyme Corp. Shares of SNY are down 1.15% to $33.63 while shares of GENZ are up .49% to $71.95.
Southwest will buy AirTran for $7.69 a share, representing a 69% premium to AirTran's Friday closing price. The deal comprises $3.75 a share in cash and 0.321 in Southwest's shares for each AirTran share. Shares of AAI are trading at $7.71 (up 58.46%) and shares of Southwest are up 3.91% to $12.76.
Consumer goods giant Unilever has agreed to buy United States-based hair care group Alberto Culver for $3.7 billion in cash to strengthen its personal care business. Shares of ACV are up 19.31% to $37.56.
Wal-Mart is in talks to buy South Africa's Massmart, a $4 billion deal that would give the U.S. retailer a large presence in fast-growing African markets. Shares of WMT are down .36% to $53.88.
HSBC Holdings PLC is in talks to buy up to 70 percent of Nedbank, South Africa's fourth-largest lender. Shares of HBC are down .51 to $52.34.
Chip stocks down –- Nvidia is down 2.77% to $11.92. AMD is one of the exceptions; up 2.05% to $6.98.
Among stocks in focus –- Apple continues hitting new highs; up .16% to $292.78.
IBM reaches levels not seen since 2000; up .36% to $134.59.
ConocoPhillips announced this morning that it received notice Russian oil company, Lukoil, that Lukoil will exercise its option to buy back 42.5 million shares owned by the U.S. oil major. ConocoPhillips said pretax proceeds of the transaction will total $2.38 billion and expects closing on Sept. 29. This transaction total brings proceeds from the sale to $6.44 billion which ConocoPhillips plans to use to buy-back company shares. Shares of COP are down .36% to $56.15.
Airlines getting pop from Southwest/AirTran news -- JetBlu is up 6.23% to $6.31, shares of ALK are up over 6% and shares of American Airlines are up 1.72% to $6.49.
Anticipated Earnings -- Jabil Circuit Inc and Paychex Inc (PAYX.O) are due to report results later Monday. Shares of JBL are up 2.14% to $13.86, while shares of PAYX are down .41% to $27.12.
On the lighter side --''Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'' debuted this weekend and led all movies in dollars generated, but was deemed an ''earnings estimate miss'' as sales weren’t as high as expected.
Gold down slightly from highs -- Gold for December delivery are trading this morning at $1,298.50 after hitting 1,301.30 in very early trading.
The US Dollar is gaining against the euro this morning; up .2186% and rising against the yen; up .0356%.
Oil futures for November delivery are down $.71 this morning to $75.78 a barrel.
Bonds: The yield on the 10-year bond down .0593 to 2.5457%.
