Equities in Canada’s largest centre were in a battle between gainers and losers on Monday, as gains in the materials sector offset losses in energy shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 7.23 to greet noon at 14,931.95
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.04 cents at 75.33 U.S.
The materials group was boosted by shares of Goldcorp, which jumped $1.00, or 7.8%, to $13.86, after bigger rival Newmont Mining Corp said it would buy the gold miner in a deal worth $10 billion.
Miners also got a boost from gold prices, which rose with investors seeking safety after weak Chinese trade data dented risk sentiment and rekindled fears of a global economic slowdown.
Investors also noted a followed by an eight-cent rise in Aurora Cannabis to $8.55, putting caps on earlier gains.
Norbord Inc fell $1.78, or 4.6%, to $37.16, after CIBC cut its rating on shares to "underperform" from "neutral".
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 1.5 points to 603.27
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower midday, as gold subsided 1%, utilities fell 0.8%, and information technology, dipped 0.5%
The four gainers were led by communications, up 0.5%, industrials, ahead 0.4%, and real-estate, nicking forward 0.1%.
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 remained negative, 99.88 points to 23,896.07, as Merck and Apple lagged.
The S&P 500 sank 14.04 points to 2,582.35, led by losses in the tech, health care and utilities sectors.
The NASDAQ Composite stumbled 50.4 points to 6,921.08.
Shares of Apple, Netflix and Alphabet all traded down at least 1%. The S&P 500 tech sector also dropped 0.8%.
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%
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 gave way, boosting yields to 2.71% from Friday’s 2.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices dipped 31 cents to $51.28U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $1.20 to $1,290.70 U.S. an ounce.
