Equities in Canada’s largest centre edged higher on Monday, with a gain in the financial sectors offset by a selloff in shares of Eldorado Gold Corp.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained positive 14.75 points to approach noon at 15,871.97
The Canadian dollar hurtled lower 1.09 cents to 79.02 cents U.S.
Eldorado fell 15.6% to $2.31 after lowering production guidance for a gold mine in Turkey.
Royal Bank of Canada rose 0.3% to $101.54, and Bank of Nova Scotia gained 0.4% to $81.29.
Weakness in bullion prices weighed on the gold-mining sector. Goldcorp Inc gave back 0.5% to $16.46. Yamana Gold Inc slipped 1.5% to $3.36.
Hudson’s Bay Co shares dropped 3.4% to $11.55 after the company said late on Friday that Chief Executive Gerald Storch would leave the company. Activist investor Jonathan Litt said on Monday he is considering seeking the removal of several directors at a special shareholder meeting.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade rose 0.5% to $62.8 billion in August, led by the personal and household goods and motor vehicle and parts sub-sectors.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell backward 2.91 points to 786.60
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground midday, with health-care better by 0.7, consumer staples and telecoms each up 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by gold, off 0.7%, while materials and energy each gave back 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks hit record highs on Monday as Wall Street geared up for the busiest week of the earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 24.44 points from Friday’s all-time record to 23,353.07. Home Depot and Johnson & Johnson both rose more than 1% contributing the most to the gains on the 30-stock index.
The S&P 500 took 1.13 points above Friday’s record close to 2,574.08, with health-care leading advancers and industrials lagging. Seagate Technology was the best-performing stock in the index, surging more than 11% on stronger-than-expected earnings.
Hasbro was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500, falling 9% after the company warned of weaker holiday-season sales due to the bankruptcy of its largest customers, Toys 'R' Us.
The NASDAQ dropped 15.39 points from Friday’s record high to 6,613.67, as shares of Amazon, Facebook, and Alphabet all fell. The tech-heavy index hit a record high earlier in the session.
About a third of the S&P 500 will have reported when the week is over. Companies reporting this week include Dow components 3M, Caterpillar and Boeing. Also reporting this week are Amazon, Alphabet, NBCUniversal-parent Comcast and Twitter.
Earnings season has gotten off to a good start. With 17% of the S&P 500 having reported as of Friday, 76% of companies have beaten earnings expectations and 72% have topped sales estimates
The move to new highs coincides with the strong earnings reports and increased possibilities of tax reform moving forward in the U.S.
The Senate approved a $4-trillion budget measure last week, which enables the Republican-led chamber to pass a tax bill with a simple 51-vote majority in the Senate.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained slightly, lowering yields to 2.387 from Friday’s 2.38%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped two cents a barrel to $51.82 U.S.
Gold prices retreated $4.20 an ounce to $1,276.30 U.S.
