Equities in Canada’s largest centre took baby steps backward on Monday, as gains health-care and real-estate offset a drop in the materials and gold sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index faded 14.62 points to close Monday at 16,420.84
The Canadian dollar vaulted 0.57 cents at 75.96 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold Corp's shares fell 66 cents, or 4.1%, to $15.57 after the Canadian miner said its chief executive officer, Kelvin Dushnisky, would quit and take the top job at South African gold producer AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.
Kinross Gold lost five cents, or 1%, to $4.79.
Among materials selections, First Majestic Silver dipped 27 cents, or 3.1%, to $8.41, while Agnico Eagle Mines tumbled $1.99, or 3.3%, to $58.39.
Top drags on industrials were shares of Canadian National Railway, off $1.05 to $112.63, ahead of quarterly results on Tuesday, and Canadian Pacific Railway, down 32 cents to $255.38.
Top percentage gainers on the TSX were shares of cannabis firms Canopy Growth, which rose $1.99, or 6.3% to $33.84, and Aurora Cannabis, which climbed 34 cents, or 4.6%, to $7.70.
Among real estate issues, Brookfield Asset Management picked up 32 cents to $55.42.
In financials, Royal Bank gained 33 cents to $101.81, while Scotiabank took on 12 cents to $76.10.
On the economic area Statistics Canada reported wholesale trade rose 1.2% to a record $63.7 billion in May. Sales were up in four of seven sub-sectors, representing approximately 50% of total wholesale sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 2.02 points to 710.31.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, primarily gold, down 1.4%, materials, falling 1%, and industrials, off 0.5%.
The three gainers were health-care, surging 3.5%, while financials and real-estate were each richer by 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Technology shares rose to an all-time high on Monday as Wall Street awaited the latest quarterly results from some of the largest companies in the sector.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 13.83 points to 25,044.29,
The S&P 500 regained 5.15 points to 2,806.98, to close at a record, helping lift the overall index by 0.2%
The NASDAQ gained 21.67 points to 7,841.87
Google-parent Alphabet is set to report earnings after the bell on Monday, while Facebook and Amazon are scheduled to release their results later this week. Technology shares have been the best performers of 2018, rising 15.4% through Friday’s close.
Alphabet shares rose 1.1%, while Facebook closed 0.6% higher. Amazon shares declined nearly 0.7%.
So far, more than 17% of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings for the previous quarter, with 82% of those companies topping analyst expectations. Wall Street has high hopes for this earnings season, with analysts expecting year-over-year growth of 20%.
Hasbro reported better-than-expected earnings Monday before the bell, sending its shares higher by more than 12%.. Halliburton posted an in-line quarterly profit, but its stock fell more than 8%.
Trade fears have kept stock gains in check recently. Since June, the S&P 500 has traded in a 4.6% range through Friday's close.
Bank shares rose sharply, with Bank of America rose 2.1% and J.P. Morgan Chase rose 1.9%. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs all rose at least all rose at least 0.9%.
Shares of Fiat Chrysler fell more than 1.5% after Sergio Marchionne stepped down from his post as CEO due to health reasons. Mike Manley, who runs the company’s Jeep division, will take over for Marchionne.
Tesla’s stock 3.3% after the Wall Street Journal reported the company is asking some suppliers to refund part of previous payment
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 2.96% from Friday’s 2.9%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 42 cents to $67.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dawdled $6.20 at $1,224.90 U.S. an ounce.
