Canada's main stock index found early strength Monday, though a fall in oil prices weighed on energy stocks, after data showed weakening imports and exports in China.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index poked up 11.08 to begin the week at 14,950.26
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.02 cents at 75.55 U.S.
Newmont Mining said it would buy smaller rival Goldcorp Inc, in a deal valued at $10 billion, creating the world's biggest gold producer by output.
Goldcorp shares climbed $1.49, or 11.6%, in Toronto to $14.35
Barclays raised the target price on Cogeco Communications to $73.00 from $70.00. Cogeco shares gained 63 cents to $74.42.
National Bank of Canada cut the rating on Titan Mining to sector perform from outperform. Titan shares were unchanged in price to $1.05.
CIBC cut the rating on West Fraser Timber to neutral from outperform. West Fraser lost $2.99, or 4.2%, to $68.66.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.5 points to 603.27
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher in the first hour of trade, as health-care was haler 1.2%, communications gained 0.6%, and materials were stronger 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by information technology issues, sliding 0.9%, while utilities fell 0.6%, and consumer discretionary shares lost 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Monday, led by losses in tech, as the U.S. corporate earnings season kicked off. Concerns over an economic slowdown in China also dampened sentiment to start off the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 81.61 points to 23,914.34, as Merck and Apple lagged.
The S&P 500 sank 12.32 points to 2,583.94, led by losses in the tech and utilities sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite stumbled 56.44 points to 6,915.03.
Shares of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet all traded down at least 1%. The S&P 500 tech sector also dropped 1%.
Corporate profits grew massively in the first three quarters of last year, expanding by at least 25% in those time periods. S&P 500 earnings are expected to have grown by 12.6% in the fourth quarter
The calendar fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off on Monday, with Citigroup reporting stronger-than-expected earnings. However, the bank also said its fixed-income trading revenue fell 21%.
Lululemon Athletica on Monday raised its fourth-quarter profit and revenue forecasts, driven by strong sales during the holiday season. Lululemon shares sprang up in New York, gaining $8.31, or 6.3%, to $140.47.
Investors were also worried after fresh data out on Monday showed December exports and imports dropping unexpectedly in China. These figures deepened concerns of a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were slightly higher, curbing yields to 2.69% from Friday’s 2.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices dipped 16 cents to $51.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $2.50 to $1,292 U.S. an ounce.
