Markets in Canada’s largest centre squeezed into the green early Monday, led by gains for the materials group and for Rogers Communications Inc after it named a new chief executive officer, while lower oil prices weighed on the shares of energy and railroad companies.
The S&P/TSX Composite inched up 3.45 points to open the week at 14,588.44.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.05 cents to 76.15 cents U.S.
Rogers Communications said it would appoint former Telus Chief Executive Joseph Natale as CEO and reported a 3.2% rise in quarterly revenue as it added more subscribers to its wireless service.
Rogers shares barreled higher $1.29, or 2.4%, to $55.63.
Supervalu Inc said it would sell its Save-A-Lot business Onex Corp. for $1.37 billion, more than a year after making public plans to spin off the discount grocery chain.
Onex shares gained 66 cents to $83.22.
Barclays raised the rating on Oceanagold Corp. to overweight from equal weight, citing the company’s mill start-up at the near-finished greenfield Haile mining project in South Carolina.
Oceanagold shares took on seven cents, or 1.9%, to $3.78.
Barclays raised target price on Teck Resources to $22.00 from $16.00, saying that met coal prices will stay high enough to substantially lift the earnings prospects of the company.
Teck shares gained 98 cents, or 4%, to $25.64.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $12.7 billion in August, led by acquisitions of Canadian bonds on the secondary market.
At the same time, the agency says, Canadian investment in foreign securities slowed to $1.6 billion. This resulted in a net inflow of funds of $11.1 billion into the Canadian economy in the month
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 2.79 points to 775.81
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher, led by gold, up 1.3%, materials, up 0.9%, and telecoms, ahead 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, ailing 0.8%, while industrials and energy each sagged 0.4%.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. equities traded slightly lower on Monday as investors digested a number of corporate results, key economic data while keeping an eye on the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled out of the blocks, losing 15.17 points to 18,123.21, with McDonald's and Merck contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 slid 2.55 points to 2,130.43, with energy leading decliners.
The NASDAQ composite index dropped 7.36 points to 5,206.80, as shares of Apple descended 0.4%.
Banking giant Bank of America and toymaker Hasbro were among the firms reporting quarterly earnings before the bell. Both firms beat Wall Street estimates. IBM and Netflix are among the companies scheduled to release results after the close on Monday.
Earnings season has gotten off to a good start. Of the 34 S&P 500 companies that had reported as of Friday morning, 79%had beaten Wall Street estimates for earnings per share.
Last week, banking giants JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all reported better-than-expected profits and sales.
Investors also digested industrial production data, which showed a 0.1% increase in September, slightly below a consensus estimate of 0.2%. Meanwhile, the New York Fed's Empire State business conditions showed manufacturing in the state contracted for the third straight month.
Overseas, Chinese gross domestic product, retail sales and industrial profits are all scheduled for release on Wednesday. Last week, U.S. stocks were weighed down by a surprise fall in Chinese exports.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 1.78% from Friday’s 1.8%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were down 88 cents at $49.47 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices nosed higher 40 cents to $1,255.90 U.S. an ounce.
