Canada's main stock index opened lower on Monday as fresh signs of weakness in euro-zone and worries about U.S.-China trade deal kept investors at bay, while shares in First Quantum Minerals slumped $1.08, or 8.9% ,to $11.13, after it denied takeover talks.
The S&P/TSX slipped 21.23 points to begin a new week at 16,878.64, following a gain of 1.3% last week.
The Canadian dollar lopped off 0.08 cents at 75.35 cents U.S.
Brookfield Asset Management and Dubai's Meraas Holding have agreed to form a joint venture valued at five billion dirham to own and operate Meraas' retail assets.
Shares in Brookfield fell 97 cents, or 1.4%, to $70.78.
UBS raises target price on MEG Energy to $6 from $5.50. MEG doffed two cents to $6.27.
TD Securities initiates Leagold Mining with 'buy' rating, and a $4.50 target price. Leagold gained three cents, or 1%, to $2.94.
Scotiabank raised the target price on Loblaw Companies to $78.00 from $69.00. Loblaw shares gave back 24 cents to $74.64.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported wholesale sales rose for a second consecutive month in July, up 1.7% to $65.4 billion. This is the sixth increase in the first seven months of 2019.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 2.07 points to 592.52
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive in the first hour, primarily gold and health-care, each up 0.9%, while information technology acquired 0.3%.
The five laggards were weighed most by communications, off 0.8%, while financials dipped 0.3%, and consumer staples were off 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slipped on Monday as weak economic data out of Europe stoked worries over the state of the global economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 58.26 points to begin the day and the week at 26,876.81
The S&P 500 dipped 5.44 points to 2,986.54
The NASDAQ Composite descended 21.57 points to 8,095.71
NETSOL Technologies is among the firms reporting earnings Monday. NETSOL shares grabbed 21 cents, or 3.7%, to $5.90.
Manufacturing activity in Germany fell to its lowest level since the financial crisis this month, data from IHS Markit showed. Germany’s services sector also grew at its slowest pace in nine months. Overall, manufacturing in the euro zone fell to a more than six-year low while services grew at is slowest pace in eight months.
The U.S. manufacturing sector hit a five-month high in September, while the services sector grew at its fastest pace in two months, according to data from IHS Markit. However, IHS noted the manufacturing data remained among the weakest since 2016
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose sharply, lowering yields to 1.72% from Friday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices dropped 23 cents to $57.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $15.70 to $1,530.80 U.S. an ounce.
