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Equities in Canada’s largest centre turned lower in early trade on Monday, weighed by heavyweight banks and railway stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite dropped 29.8 points to open the week at 15,503.67.
The Canadian dollar moved higher 0.15 cents at 76.37 cents U.S.
Utilities proved the worst-off among the losing groups, with Hydro One slipping three cents to $23.65, and Fortis Inc. off 46 cents, or 1.1%, to $42.27.
Chinese smartphone maker TCL Communication has introduced its first BlackBerry-licensed phone with the physical keyboard that was long its key allure. BlackBerry shares began the day up four cents to $9.28.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's insistence on keeping its discipline while assessing whether to increase its $2.9-billion bid for Chicago-based PrivateBancorp leaves the bank's U.S. expansion plans in the balance.
CIBC shares gave back 69 cents to $117.83.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange poked up 0.47 points to 836.74
All but two of the 12 subgroups were lower in the first hour of the trading week, as utilities dipped 0.8%, while industrials and real-estate each lost 0.6%.
The two gainers were gold, up 0.4%, while energy made its way up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities opened lower on Monday as Wall Street looked ahead to a key speech from President Donald Trump.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 12.93 points from Friday’s all-time high at 20,808.83, with Procter & Gamble contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 ditched 1.6 points to 2,365.74, with consumer staples lagging.
The NASDAQ slid 4.94 points to 5,840.36.
In corporate news, Goldman Sachs downgraded Tesla to sell from neutral, delays in the large-scale production of the Model 3. Tesla's stock declined more than 3% before markets opened.
Trump is set to speak at a joint Congress session on Tuesday, with investors looking for clues about the administration's plans for tax reform and deregulation.
In economic news, durable goods orders rose 1.8% in January, slightly above the expected 1.7% increase. Also on the economic calendar are pending home sales data and a speech from Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan, a voting member on the central bank's policymaking committee.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note lost some of their might, liftng yields to 2.34% from Friday’s 2.32%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 39 cents to $54.38 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $1.10 to $1,259.40 U.S. an ounce.
