Canada's main stock index turned positive shortly after the open on Monday as energy and material stocks lift, while Canopy Growth Corp. surged more than 16% on Constellation Brands Inc stake.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 56.49 points to begin the penultimate day of October at 16,010.
The Canadian dollar dusted off 0.04 cents to 77.89 cents U.S.
Canopy Growth, for its part, leaped $1.70, or 13.3%, to $14.49.
Cenovus Energy Inc on Monday named industry veteran Alex Pourbaix chief executive officer, effective Nov. 6. The news sent Cenovus shares up 12 cents, or nearly 1%, to $12.51.
Barclays cuts the rating on Baytex Energy to underweight from equal weight. Baytex shares 13 cents, or 4%, to $3.36
Barclays raised the price target on IGM Financial to $44.00 from $41.00. IGM lost a penny to $44.99.
CIBC raised the rating on TMX Group to outperform from neutral. TMX shares jacked up $4.06, or 6%, to $71.92.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nicked positive 1.65 points to 789.03
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, with health-care 3.4% mightier, energy stocks gushing 1.6%, and materials up 0.6%
The three laggards were consumer staples, down 0.7%, while real-estate and industrial stocks each surrendered 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones industrial average eased off from its dizzy heights 19.11 points to start Monday trading at 23,415.08, with Merck falling 4.8% to lead decliners.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.99 points from Friday’s high to 2,579.08. AMD was the worst-performing stock in the index sliding 5.1%
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices fell after Morgan Stanley analysts warn demand for cryptocurrency mining chips will be cut in half.
General Motors was also among the worst performers in the S&P 500, pulling back 2.7% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to sell, noting it sees a 28% downside over the next 12 months for the stock.
The NASDAQ gained 22.81 points to 6,724.08. Amazon and Apple advanced 0.9% and 2.2%, respectively, to reach new all-time highs.
Apple is scheduled to report Thursday after the close.
A slew of corporate deals were also announced on Monday. Lennar said it was buying CalAtlantic for $9.3 billion, creating the largest U.S. homebuilder. Lennar's stock dropped 2.7% while CalAtlantic shares gained 22%.
For-profit colleges Strayer and Capella also agreed to merge in a stock-swap deal. Strayer shares gained 7.3% while Capella's stock rose nearly 30%.
Wall Street will have its hands full with earnings again this week, with Apple, Starbucks, Qualcomm and Tesla, among others, set to report.
More than half of the S&P 500 has reported as of Friday, with 76% of those companies beating estimates on the bottom line while 67% have topped sales expectations
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.4% from Friday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices 19 cents a barrel to $54.09 U.S.
Gold prices gained $1.40 an ounce to $1,273.20 U.S.
