Markets in Canada’s biggest financial centre edged higher on Monday as financial stocks rose, offsetting losses for energy stocks as oil fell.
The S&P/TSX Composite recovered 14.42 points to open Monday at 14,496.84
The Canadian dollar moved backward 0.25 cents to 76.86 cents U.S.
Canadian Natural Resources has quietly bought up about 12,000 natural gas wells across Alberta over the last two years, an analysis of regulatory data shows, becoming the country's largest natural gas producer as rivals sold assets or held steady in a tough market.
Natural Resources stock dropped 35 cents in price to $41.01.
RBC initiated coverage on Turquoise Hill Resources with a sector perform rating as the company offers investors exposure to the development and growth of what will be one of the largest and lowest cost copper producers in the world over the next 10 years.
Turquoise Hill lost nine cents, or nearly 2%, to $4.53.
CIBC raised the target price on Waste Connections by $4.00 to $80.00 based on the expectation on the synergies from the BIN deal to come in quicker than originally forecast.
Waste Connections stock price sprouted $1.14, or 1.2%, to $95.72.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that offshore investors poured $14.7 billion into Canada during May, mostly government bonds on the secondary market, while Canadian investors added $5.1 billion in foreign holdings, mostly equities.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.09 points to 767.45
All but three of the 13 subgroups were higher, with consumer discretionary and health-care issues each rising 0.7%, gold up 0.6%.
The three laggards were metals and mining, toppling 2%, energy, off 0.6%, and consumer staples, down 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded fractionally lower Monday as companies posted better-than-expected earnings and a Japan-U.K. acquisition boosted European markets.
The Dow Jones Industrials tacked on 8.28 points to Friday’s all-time high to 18,524.83, with Goldman Sachs contributing the most to gains and IBM leading the blue-chip index lower.
The S&P 500 moved up 2.16 points to 2,163.90, with energy and materials leading the index lower. Information technology led four S&P sectors higher.
The NASDAQ Composite Index grew 14.55 points to 5,044.12
Japan's Softbank announced it would pay £17 per share for ARM in a $32-billion U.S. all-cash deal, sending London-listed shares of ARM up more than 45% early trade.
Second-quarter earnings kick into full gear this week.
Bank of America beat the Street on earnings and revenue Monday, with earnings per share of 36 cents, compared to an expected 33 cents, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Following Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase last week, Bank of America is now the third big U.S. financial institution to top second-quarter profit forecasts.
Hasbro posted second-quarter earnings per share of 41 cents U.S., versus the expected 39 cents from analysts.
Charles Schwab, IBM, Netflix and Yahoo will also post results Monday.
On the data front, the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index for July is due Monday afternoon.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 1.57% from Friday’s 1.58%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices jettisoned 95 cents a barrel to $45.00 U.S.
Gold prices gained $6.30 to $1,333.70 U.S. an ounce.
