Equities in Canada’s largest market gained slightly in early trade on Tuesday, with Bank of Montreal leading banks higher after its earnings beat expectations while energy stocks, especially Valeant Pharmaceuticals, weighed.
The S&P/TSX Composite inched up 7.49 points to open Tuesday at 15,471.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.14 cents at 75.69 cents U.S.
Valeant reported a 12.9% fall in quarterly revenue, its third straight quarter of a double-digit percentage decrease, as sales declined across its businesses and realized prices fell.
Valeant shares slid $2.04, or 9.3%, to $19.90.
Bank of Nova Scotia reported improved first-quarter earnings that were just ahead of expectations, benefiting from a strong performance in the Pacific Alliance trade bloc.
Scotiabank shares lost $2.04, or 2.6%, to $77.21.
BMO reported first-quarter earnings which were well ahead of market expectations benefiting from strong performances across all of its businesses.
BMO shares galloped $2.35, or 2.4%, to $100.93.
TD Securities cut the target price on Yellow Pages Ltd. to $11.00 from $16.00. Yellow shares gained a penny to $9.27.
Barclays raised the target price on George Weston Ltd. to $133.00 from $127.00 with an overweight rating. Weston shares added 64 cents to $111.53.
Raymond James raised the target price on Tricon Capital Group to $13.00 from $12.50. Tricon shares took on nine cents to $10.51.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada’s Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.4% in January, mainly due to higher prices for energy and petroleum products.
The Raw Materials Price Index increased 1.7%, led by higher prices for animals and animal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 2.86 points to 830.07
Seven of the 12 subgroups were lower in the early going, with health-care dawdling 2.2%, energy lower by 0.6%, and utilities off 0.1%.
The four gainers were led by gold, hiking 2.8%, materials, stronger 1.7%, and consumer discretionary stocks, up 0.2%. Consumer staples were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell slightly Tuesday as investors eagerly awaited a speech from President Donald Trump while parsing through key economic data
The Dow Jones Industrials subtracted 9.73 points from Monday’s all-time high at 20,827.71, with Wal-Mart and Goldman Sachs contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 turned lower 2.77 points to 2,366.98, with consumer discretionary leading decliners. Shares of Target dragged discretionaries, falling more than 13% on the back of weaker-than-expected quarterly results and light guidance.
The NASDAQ lost 17.25 points to 5,844.65.
In economic news, the second read on fourth-quarter U.S. GDP remained unchanged, but consumer spending was revised sharply higher to a 3% rate from 2.5%
Meanwhile, low inventory and mortgage rates pushed home prices 5.8% higher in December, up from November's 5.6% annual gain, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index.
Other data released Tuesday included consumer confidence for February, which hit its highest level since July 2001. Some Federal Reserve officials are also set to speak throughout the day.
Trump is scheduled to speak at a joint Congress session Tuesday night. Wall Street will be listening closely for any clues or details regarding the administration's plans on tax reform and deregulation.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.35% from Monday’s 2.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 53 cents to $53.52 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices fell a dollar to $1,257.80 U.S. an ounce.
