Equities in Canada’s largest market made slight gains to begin Monday, ahead of a week which will feature statutory holidays on both sides of the border.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved higher 43.4 points to begin a short week at 15,232.38.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.04 cents to 73.05 cents U.S.
Canadian markets will be shuttered Wednesday for Canada Day.
CIBC raised the target price on Endeavour Mining to $42.00 from $40.00. Endeavour shares eked up two cents to $33.14.
Scotiabank cut the target price on Guardian Capital Group to $22.00 from $23.00. Guardian shares
Scotiabank raised the target price on IGM Financial to $34.00 from $32.00
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported the total value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities in May bounced back 20.2% to $7.4 billion, following declines of 13.4% in March and 15.4% in April.
The agency’s industrial product price index rose 1.2% in May, driven mainly by higher prices for meat, fish and dairy products as well as energy and petroleum products, while the raw materials price index increased 16.4%, mainly on higher crude oil prices.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gathered 3.64 points to 602.38.
Seven of the 12 subgroups gained ground in the first hour, energy powering ahead 1.5%, communications perking 1.1%, and consumer staples picking up 0.8%.
The five subgroups were weighed most by information technology, down 1%, while real-estate faded 0.8%, and gold subsided 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose sharply on Monday as Wall Street cheered news on Boeing.
The 30-stock index rebounded 340.46 points, or 1.4%, to begin Monday at 25,356.01.
Shares of Dow-member Boeing rose 5.5% as certification flights for the Boeing 737 Max were set to begin Monday. The test is seen by investors as a critical step in Boeing’s worst-ever corporate crisis, which began in March 2019 after two crashes in five months killed 346 people.
The S&P 500 recovered 21.72 points to 3,030.76.
The NASDAQ Composite moved higher 25.67 points to 9,784.08.
Facebook shares dropped nearly 3% while Amazon dipped 2%, and Netflix slid 2% and 1.9%. Apple fell 0.5% and Alphabet dipped 0.2%.
Markets in the States will observe the Fourth of July on Friday.
Facebook stock fell 2.8% on Monday as more companies said they will pause advertising on its platforms. Since Friday, Starbucks, Coca Cola and Guinness-parent Diageo all announced they will halt advertising on social media.
The move is seen as part of a broader effort among a growing number of companies to force social media platforms to crack down on hate speech and disinformation on their sites and apps. Twitter slipped 1.8% in a similar move.
Investors bet on select stocks on hopes most state economies will continue to reopen even as some hotspots pop up. Southwest Airlines jumped after Goldman Sachs upgraded the shares to buy from sell. Southwest gained 3.4% in morning trading following the upgrade.
Shares of retailer Gap picked up 1.9%, and Kohl’s rose 1%.
Futures contracts had initially pointed to a decline on Monday after data compiled by Johns Hopkins University showed more than 2.5 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. On Friday alone, there were 45,255 additional cases were reported, bringing the country’s seven-day average to more than 41% from the prior week.
On Saturday, Florida reported a one-day record of cases of 9,636. The state reported an additional 8,577 on Sunday. Those figures were released after Florida once again banned drinking at bars on Friday. Texas — another state that has seen record spikes in coronavirus infections — rolled back on Friday some of its reopening measures.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Friday’s 0.64%.
Oil prices crept higher eight cents to $38.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added two dollars to $1,782.30 U.S. an ounce.
