The Toronto stock market ended a seesaw Monday, turning negative, even as commodity prices turned positive. This, as investors took in news that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed, removing a potential threat to global stability.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped 10.28 points below breakeven Monday to 13,934.51
The Canadian dollar sifted off 0.53 cents to 105.15 cents U.S.
Financials led TSX advancers as Manulife Financial advanced 53 cents to $17.52 while Scotiabank rose 74 cents to $58.43.
Suncor Energy was up 28 cents to $43.89 and Cenovus Energy slid into the red 16 cents to $36.22.
The gold sector lost ground as Barrick Gold Corp. lost $1.18 to $47.14 while Goldcorp Inc. was down $2.80, or 5.3%, to $50.09.
Copper prices also came back from early lows and the May copper contract in New York was unchanged at $4.16 U.S.a pound. The base metals sector rose with Teck Resources ahead 45 cents to $51.88 while Ivanhoe Mining gained six cents to $24.87.
Industrial stocks also advanced with Canadian National Railways ahead 92 cents to $74.31.
The TSX health sector fell after American drug developer Cephalon Inc. found a friendly buyer in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., beating out a hostile bid from Toronto-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals, whose stock dropped $2.72, or 5.5%, to $47.18.
Teva is offering $6.8 billion U.S. for Cephalon, substantially above the $5.7-billion bid by Valeant. Teva said Cephalon’s board of directors had unanimously agreed to the purchase price of $81.50 U.S. per share in cash.
In other corporate news, Research In Motion Ltd. shares gave up 34 cents to $45.75 as the company announced two new BlackBerry Bold smartphone models as well as a planned new operating system set to debut next year. Its shares dropped more than 14% Friday after the company cut back its growth estimate for the current quarter.
Noront Resources Ltd. a Toronto-based miner with operations in the Ring of Fire area of northern Ontario, has struck a $29-million financing deal that could sell nearly 14.2% of the company to a unit of Chinese steelmaker Baosteel Group. Its shares rose four cents to 88 cents.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada’s Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.9% in March and the Raw Materials Price Index grew 5.7%. The nation’s number crunchers said strong increase in petroleum prices was at the heart of the advance of both indexes.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 44.15 points to 2,207.99 while the Nasdaq Canada index shed 10.62 points to 706.13
In Toronto, all but four of the 14 subgroups were up on the day. Consumer staples added 1%, utilities gained 0.9%, and financials climbed 0.8%.
The four laggards were weighed by gold, off 2.6%, materials bowed 2.1%, and global base metals were down 0.5% by the close.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks swung between gains and losses Monday as investors shifted focus back to the economy and earnings news.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 3.18 points into the red by day’s end, to 12,807.40
The S&P 500 was down 2.39 points to 1,361.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 9.46 points to 2,864.08
The news that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces gave stocks an early boost, but it would take more to sustain a longer rally.
Alcoa, Merck and American Express led the blue chips higher Monday, but shares of Microsoft offset the gains and weighed down the tech sector. Applied Materials and Whole Foods were the Nasdaq's biggest laggards.
On Friday stocks finished their best month this year.
Stocks have headed higher since the beginning of the year amid strong earnings. Despite jitters about the economy and concerns about inflation, April was the best month for the three indexes since December.
Corporate earnings have largely come in above expectations, but last week's weak GDP reading and higher-than-forecast jobless claims show there's still cause for concern about the U.S. economic recovery. U.S. investors will get the April jobs report, a closely watched gauge of U.S. economic activity, on Friday.
The Nasdaq-100 index will be rebalanced to reduce the weight of Apple's stock by about 40%.
Apple currently represents 20.5% of the index. After the rebalancing, Apple's weight will be reduced to 12.3%.
Shares of TiVo were up 6% after DISH Network Corporation and EchoStar Corporation announced they will pay TiVo $500 million U.S. to settle an ongoing patent dispute.
Separately, DISH reported earnings per share of $1.22 for the quarter ended in March, easily topping forecasts. Also, DISH said it gained approximately 58,000 net subscribers during the quarter. Shares of DISH jumped 16%.
Economically speaking, the Institute for Supply Management said its April manufacturing index fell to a reading of 60.4%, better than the reading of 58.5% economists had expected.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury forged ahead, forcing yields down to 3.29% from Friday’s 3.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for June delivery was up 51 cents to $113.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices also backed off their highs Monday. Gold futures for June delivery were up $2.80 to $1,559.30 U.S. an ounce, after hitting an intraday high of $1,577.40 U.S. an ounce.
