| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
TSX struggles to make gains as slumping gold, Europe concerns offset U.S. data
Toronto’s main market was almost unchanged Tuesday, as investors weighed tumbling gold prices and gloomy data out of the eurozone against a rise in U.S. factory orders and strong vehicles sales.
Data out of the eurozone early Tuesday showed that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 12% in February from January, with Greece and Spain reporting jobless rates near 26%. Elsewhere, the final purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone dropped to its lowest in three months to 46.8 from 47.9 in February, showing ongoing contraction in the factory sector.
Back in North America, U.S. factory orders for February rose 3%, in line with economists’ expectations.
American automakers also released strong March sales figures Tuesday, with Ford (NYSE:F) GM (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler posting their best monthly sales in over 5 years.
Chrysler reported a 5% rise in March U.S. sales while Ford saw a 5.7% improvement and GM posted its “best sales in five years” in March, up 6% year-over-year.
Investors are also keeping an eye out this week for the European Central Bank’s monetary policy review on Thursday and the monthly U.S. payroll data due out on Friday.
Back in Toronto, as of around 1 p.m. ET, the S&P/TSX Composite was up 4.93 points, or 0.04%, to 12,700.07, while the more junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite fell 11.29 points, or 1.04%, to 1,078.27.
In commodities markets, gold futures declined sharply on Tuesday to below the $1,600 an ounce level on the back of a stronger U.S. dollar, and as positive economic data in the U.S. dulled the yellow metal’s safe haven appeal. Gold for June delivery lately slumped $22 to $1,578.90 an ounce, while silver futures fell 64 cents to $27.30 an ounce. The base metal copper contract was lately unchanged at $3.37 a pound.
Crude oil futures also fell on Tuesday, as eurozone data fuelled demand concerns in Europe and as traders still worried about weak manufacturing data out of the U.S. yesterday. Crude futures for May delivery lately shed 61 cents to $96.46 a barrel.
Aside from materials, and metals and mining, Toronto’s main sectors were higher Tuesday.
Gold giants took a beating in Toronto on the falling price of the yellow metal, with Barrick Gold (TSE:ABX), Kinross Gold (TSE:K) and Goldcorp (TSE:G) off 1.98%, 3.38% and 2.15%, respectively.
Materials were weighing heavily in Toronto, off nearly 2%, led by declines in Colossus Minerals (TSE:CSI) – down 7.14% -while Jaguar Mining (TSE:JAG) and Guyana Goldfields (TSE:GUY) both lost over 6.5%.
In mining news, Curis Resources (TSE:CUV) says that a recent vote by the town council in Florence, Arizona has allowed the company to continue preparations for the start of operations of a phase 1 production test facility for its Florence copper project.
Orosur Mining (LON:OMI) (TSE:OMI) has re-jigged the strategy for its San Gregorio mine in Uruguay and will now focus on generating cash rather than maximising production. The miner, which last month announced chief executive David Fowler was stepping down, said that even though production at the mine remains on schedule, operational issues had continued to emerge that were incurring extra expense.
South American Silver Corp. (TSE:SAC) (OTCQX:SOHAF) surged more than 13% after it announced that intersected 12.19 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 3.7 metres at the Escalones copper-gold project in Chile.
The energy sector was higher Tuesday, with advances seen in advances in Husky Energy (TSE:HSE) – up 2.27% – while Arc Resources (TSE:ARX) and Pengrowth Energy Corp. (TSE:PGH) added 1.68% and 1.36%, respectively.
Decliners in the sector were led by Niko Resources (TSE:NKO) – down 4.03%, while Crew Energy (TSE:CR) and Bankers Petroleum (TSE:BNK) were each off over 3%.
In other energy news, TransCanada Corp. (TSE:TRP) shares gained 0.55% as the company begins to seek firm commitments for new pipeline capacity to move oil from Western Canada to Eastern Canada. The Energy East Pipeline project will involve 3,000 kilometres of existing natural gas pipeline, converted to carry crude, and 1,400 kilometres of new pipeline that could stretch as far as New Brunswick.
Financials were lately higher, with insurers Sun Life Financial (TSE:SLF) and Manulife Financial (TSE:MFC) each adding about 1.6%, while Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY), Canada’s largest bank by assets, rose 1.27%.
In corporate news today, BlackBerry (TSE:BB) continued to make strides Tuesday, gaining for a second session, lately up 0.9% after announcing a surprise fourth quarter profit at the end of last week. Shares of the smartphone maker rose more than 21% in the first quarter, following a 58% increase in the fourth quarter.
The Canada-based smartphone maker’s 12-month target was raised to $13 by the Societe Generale Cross Asset Research on Tuesday. “The launch of the Z10 has gone much better than we expected and this boosted margins considerably,” the analysts wrote in a note.
Agrium (TSE:AGU) (NYSE:AGU), meanwhile, was down more than 1.4%, as hedge fund Jana Partners continued to press on the company to halt its “vote buying scheme”. Jana released a statement yesterday that said Agrium was using shareholder money to pay brokers and investment advisers for votes for the company’s slate of directors. The deadline for the proxy vote is April 5.
U.S./Europe
U.S. stocks found strength from the rallying health care sector on the back of a Medicare ruling, while also cheering data that showed a 3% rise in U.S. factory orders in February.
The Dow was lately up 99.32 points at 14,672.77, the Nasdaq added 26.91 points to 3,266.08, and the S&P 500 also rose 10.81 points to hit 1,572.98.
On the corporate front, health insurers surged Tuesday after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced late yesterday that they will be lifting Medicare Advantage reimbursement rates by 3.3%, as opposed to cutting them as originally proposed.
Humana (NYSE:HUM) surged more than 6.7%, while WellPoint (NYSE:WLP) was higher by 2.77% and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) gained 5.65%. Aetna (NYSE:AET) also rallied 4.22%.
Major auto makers also reported March sales results Tuesday, with Ford (NYSE:F) GM (NYSE:GM) and Chrysler posting their best monthly sales in over 5 years.
Meanwhile, Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HTZ), the largest publicly traded U.S. auto-rental chain, gained 7.71% as it projected profit to exceed analysts’ estimates. The Park Ridge, New Jersey-based company expects earnings between $3.10 and $3.30 a share for 2015, compared with the average analyst estimate of $2.39.
Elsewhere in corporate news, Hewlett-Packard Co. shares (NYSE:HPQ) lost more than 6% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the computer giant to sell from neutral.
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), the world’s largest technology corporation, saw analysts at Goldman Sachs remove the stock from its U.S. conviction list, but retain a buy rating on the iPhone maker.
The consumer tech company, which shrugged off the latest from Goldman to move 1.83% higher on Tuesday, issued an apology to Chinese consumers on Monday after the state-run media blasted its repair policies for two weeks. Apple, which initially rejected those criticisms, promised to overhaul its consumer practices.
On the M&A front, BGC Partners (NASDAQ:BGCP) shares soared 42% after Nasdaq OMX Group (NASDAQ:NDAQ) agreed to acquire the company’s electronic Treasurys marketplace, eSpeed, in a deal valued at as much as $1.23 billion.
Shares of Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) (NASDAQ:VOD) rose over 2% in New York trading, after the Financial Times’ Alphaville blog reported Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) were working on a breakup bid for the U.K. telecom firm.
In retail news, Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ:URBN), the lifestyle specialty retailer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, advanced 4.66%, after the company said comparative retail net sales have increased at a high single-digit pace so far during the first quarter.
European markets closed sharply higher today with shares in France leading the region. The CAC 40 was up 1.98% while Germany’s DAX rose 1.91% and Britain’s FTSE 100 added 1.23%.
Story by ProactiveInvestors
2013-04-02 10:15:39
Source:
