Canada's main stock index rose in midday trading on Tuesday, as the heavy-weight financial sector gained, but shrinking factory activity data in June kept investors from making bigger bets.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 50.72 points to greet noon ET at 16,432.92.
The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.09 cents to 76.25 cents U.S.
Markets in Canada were closed Monday for Canada Day
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Eldorado Gold, which jumped 63 cents, or 8.3%, to $8.24, followed by shares of Dollarama that rose $1.44, or 3.1%, to $47.51.
Semafo Inc fell 17 cents, or 3.3%, to $4.99, the most on the TSX, followed by OceanaGold, which declined 14 cents, or 3.9%, to $3.44.
On matters macroeconomic, IHS Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index picked up fractionally to 49.2 from May's 41-month low of 49.1.
However, Markit says, the latest reading was below the crucial 50.0 no-change value for the third month running, which marks the longest period of decline since 2015/16.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.08 points to 585.55
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided at noon, with information technology adding 1.2%, industrials up 1%, and communications better by 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care down 1.5%, gold, sliding 1%, and materials, off 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were little changed on Tuesday after the U.S. threatened a new wave of tariffs on European goods, dampening recent optimism surrounding the Washington-Beijing trade truce.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 19.98 points at 26,697.45.
The S&P 500 settled 1.4 points to 2,962.59
The NASDAQ Composite slumped 17.85 points to 8,073.31
Aethlon Medical was among a sparse crowd of companies declaring earnings today.
The U.S. government on Monday threatened to impose tariffs on $4 billion of additional European Union goods in a long-running dispute over aircraft subsidies. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office released a list of products — including olives, Italian cheese and Scotch whiskey — that could be hit with new levies in additional to those introduced in April.
The new wave of proposed duties comes amid a 15-year dispute at the World Trade Organization over aircraft subsidies given to U.S. aerospace manufacturer Boeing and its European rival, Airbus.
Chipmakers and other tech companies helped buoy the S&P 500 to at all-time high on Monday on the heels of improved U.S.-China trade talks. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed not to impose new levies on U.S. and Chinese goods after meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Japan on Saturday.
Though Trump said the meeting went as well as it could have, the U.S. president said Monday that any trade deal with Beijing would be “somewhat tilted” in favor of Washington.
This month marks the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, reaching 10 years. However, U.S. GDP growth in that time has been lackluster relative to other expansions.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were higher, lowering yields to 1.99%, from Monday’s 2.02%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were down $2.32 to $56.77 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were up $16.70 to $1,406.00 U.S. an ounce.
