Stocks in Canada’s largest market hesitated a bit Tuesday morning, on weakness in tech issues.
The TSX Composite Index regressed 27.11 points to open Tuesday at 16,360.42
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.07 cents to 76.52 cents U.S.
Air Canada reported lower-than-expected third-quarter profit, hurt by lower flight capacity in the wake of the grounding of Boeing Co's 737 MAX airplanes. Shares in the Maple Leaf airline gained $2.15, or 4.7%, to $47.87.
Shopify posted a bigger net loss for the third quarter, as it spent more to expand its customer network. Shopify shares capsized $20.55, or 4.9%, to $402.20
Knight Therapeutics and shareholders of Biotoscana Investments expect to conclude the transfer of control of the Latin American pharmaceutical company by Nov. 29, the latter said in a securities filing on Monday.
Knight shares lost 5.5 cents to $8.395.
RBC raised the target price on Capital Power to $31.00 from $30.00. Capital gained 35 cents, or 1.1%, to $30.95.
CIBC raised the target price on Information Services to $18.50 from $18.00. Information shares were flat at $16.01
CIBC cut the target price on Teck Resources to $37 from $39. Teck shares gave back 23 cents, or 1%, to $21.99.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 1.94 points to 539.04
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups lost ground in the early going, with information technology down 1.3%, health-care ailing 1.2%, and gold, duller by 0.9%.
The four gainers were led by industrials, up 0.4%, financials, up 0.2%, and consumer discretionary stocks, inching up 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 struggled Tuesday to build on a record-setting session as tech giant Alphabet shares struggled on disappointing earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average stepped back 10.29 points to 27,080.43
The broader S&P 500 poked 0.66 points above Monday’s record close to 3,040.08
The NASDAQ Composite Index cut back 30.4 points to 8,295.53
Sentiment was dampened by a 2% slide in Google-parent Alphabet shares, which fell after the company posted earnings that missed analyst expectations. Alphabet reported a profit of $10.12 per share. Analysts expected earnings per share of $12.42.
Alphabet’s declines were slightly offset by gains from pharmaceutical giants Merck and Pfizer. Merck’s earnings beat expectations, boosted by immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Pfizer’s profit also topped analyst estimates. Both stocks were up at least 1%.
Data shows 78% of the S&P 500 companies that have reported thus far beat analyst expectations. Investors are also increasing bets that at least a partial trade deal between China and the U.S. will be signed next month.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Monday’s 1.84%.
Oil prices slipped 78 cents to $55.04 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $6.40 to $1,489.40 U.S. an ounce.
