Canada's main stock index dipped at open on Tuesday led by the materials sector amid brewing Sino-U.S. trade tensions and uncertainty over the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 40.68 points to open for business on Tuesday at 16,016.41
The Canadian dollar eased 0.03 cents to 75.95 cents.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland will meet U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington for another round of talks to renew the NAFTA trade pact, an official said on Monday, as time runs short to seal a deal.
Hudson's Bay Company and Signa Holding have agreed to merge Germany's two major department store chains, Galeria Kaufhof and Karstadt as they seek to respond to fierce competition from e-commerce players.
Bay shares galloped 90 cents, or 8.4%, to $11.68.
CIBC cut the price target on Altagas Ltd. to $30.00 from $32.00. Altagas eked up a penny to $24.35.
CIBC raises the rating on Element Fleet Management to outperform from neutral. Element Fleet shares gained 11 cents, or 1.6%, to $7.05.
Barclays raised the target price on Empire Company to $31.00 from $30.00. Empire shares gained 35 cents, or 1.4%, to $25.28.
On the economic beat, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the trend in housing starts was 214,598 units in August 2018, compared to 219,656 units in July 2018
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange edged forward 0.19 points to 718.93
Six of the 12 subgroups were negative in the first hour, as gold surrendered 1.5%, energy let go of 1.1%, and materials shed 1%.
The five gainers were led north by consumer staples, up 0.6%, health-care, 0.5% haler, and real-estate, 0.4% more solid. Telecom shares were unchanged soon after the opening bell.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as a rebound in tech shares offset lingering concerns over trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 25.04 points to 25,882.11, as Nike outperformed.
The S&P 500 poked up 2.05 points to 2,879.18, as tech shares climbed.
The NASDAQ strengthened 18.08 points to 7,942.24, as shares of some of the largest tech companies rose.
Netflix improved 1.6%, and Amazon rose 0.4%. Apple also gained 0.3% after analysts at UBS raised their price target to $250 from $215, citing the potential growth of the company's services business.
But tech is still down more than 2% in September as social media companies like Facebook and Twitter face potentially increasing regulatory pressures.
Tesla's stock dropped 2% after a Nomura analyst called the stock "no longer investable."
Trade worries coupled with tech's recent decline have overshadowed strong economic data. The National Federation of Independent Business reported that small business optimism jumped to a record high last month, boosted by lower taxes and looser regulations.
Boeing fell 0.2%, and Caterpillar shares settled 0.8%. Both are considered bellwethers for global trade.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, raising yields to 2.98% from Monday’s 2.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 33 cents to $67.87 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $5.50 to $1,194.30
