Canada’s main stock index faltered midday Monday, hampered by weakness in resource issues, as as the market tried to recover from the previous week’s broad selloff triggered by hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data.
The TSX Composite slumped 33.19 points to move into noon hour at 21,866.80.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.03 cents at 72.66 cents U.S.
Communication services shares rose, pulled up by Cogeco Communications, which rose 71 cents to $56.54 after brokerage RBC raised its price target on the company following its first-quarter results.
On the economic slate, the Canadian Real Estate Association issued its report for March. National home sales edged up 0.5% month-over-month in March. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 1.7% above March 2023.
Manufacturing sales increased 0.7% in February, led by the petroleum and coal product subsector as well as the electrical equipment, appliance and component subsector. The chemical subsector posted the largest decline.
Wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) were essentially unchanged (+0.0%), at $82.2 billion in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 4.58 points to 583.13.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups bowed their heads Monday, as gold dropped 1.5%, while materials sank 1.2%, and energy slid 1.1%.
The five gainers were led by consumer staples, ahead 1%, industrials, picking up 0.5%, and health-care, better by 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Monday, rebounding from last week’s sell-off following strong Goldman Sachs earnings, hot retail data and hopes that the conflict in the Middle East will not escalate further.
The 30-stock average regained 161.35 points to pause for lunch Monday at 38,144.59
The S&P 500 index jumped 17.02 points to 5,140.45.
The NASDAQ advanced 19.81 points to 16,194.91, hurt by a drop of more than 5% in Salesforce.
Goldman Sachs popped almost 4% after beating Wall Street expectations on both lines in the first quarter. JPMorgan shares gained almost 1% in Monday’s session, regaining some ground after tumbling Friday amid concerns about what the financial giant may generate from
lending in the year ahead.
Wall Street also got a boost from fresh economic data. Retail sales increased 0.7% for the month of March, providing the latest indication that consumption remains strong in spite of inflationary pressures. That pace was higher than the 0.3% consensus forecast of economists polled by Dow Jones.
Monday’s action also comes of the heels of a tough week on Wall Street, as lingering inflation concerns and a poor start to the new corporate earnings season weighed on traders. Both the Dow and S&P 500 saw their worst weekly performances since 2023.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury tumbled, raising yields to 4.64% from Friday’s 4.51%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ducked $1.16 to $84.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dulled $6.70 to $2,367.40 U.S. an ounce.
