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Toronto dips on Chinese fears(Baystreet Stock Market Update (Canada) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Metals weaken The Toronto stock market was lower Monday as resource stocks declined amid data from China, which raised fresh questions about growth in the world's second-biggest economy. The S&P/TSX composite index gave back 47.74 points to greet noon at 15,483.84 The Canadian dollar recovered 0.25 cents to 90.46 cents U.S. Tim Hortons, which will join forces with Burger King in an $11-billion deal, says preliminary sales for the third-quarter were up 3.6% in Canada and seven per cent in the U.S. for stores that have been open for at least a year. Tim Hortons says it's releasing the data as part of disclosure requirements that are part of the deal with private equity firm 3G Capital and Burger King Worldwide. The energy sector fell with Imperial Oil down 15 cents to $55.64. The gold sector was also off as Barrick Gold slipped 15 cents to $18.18. Weakness in financials also contributed to the negative showing on the TSX, as Canaccord Genuity Group dipped 38 cents to $11.81. In the economic docket, the average price of a Canadian home increased by more than 5% in the past year, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association, which adds the average home sold in Canada went for $398,618 in August. ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 3.37 points to 984.56. All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down during the morning, with metals and mining tumbling 1.5%, global base metals down 1.3%, and consumer discretionaries off 1%. The three gainers were utilities, inching up 0.06%, industrials, up 0.04%, and consumer staples nosing ahead 0.01% ON WALLSTREET Tech stocks were broadly lower Monday, with the S&P 500's information technology sector declining the most among the index's 10 sectors in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrials inched higher by 19.68 points to 17,007.19. The S&P 500 dropped 3.90 points to 1,981.64. The NASDAQ dipped 47.48 points to 4,520.12 Microsoft Corp. saw declines after the company said it would acquire the maker of the popular “Minecraft” game franchise for $2.5 billion U.S. Microsoft shares slipped by 30 cents to $46.41 U.S. after it confirmed reports that it will acquire Stockholm-based Mojand, the developer of "Minecraft." Mojang will become part of Microsoft Studios, which also includes the developers of such popular game titles as "Halo" and "Forza." Microsoft is expected to use Minecraft's popularity to increase demand for its mobile devices. Security software company Symantec Corp. was off by 2% at $24.08 U.S. a share. RBC Capital Markets cut its rating on Symantec to sector perform from outperform Monday. Cloud-computing company Rackspace Hosting Inc. gave up 4.6% to fall to $36.75 U.S. a share after analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight. Other notable declines came from LinkedIn Corp. which was down 4% at $215.85 U.S.; Seagate Technology which shed 2.7% to fall to $59.35 U.S. a share, and Netflix Inc. down by 2% at $466 U.S. a share. On Monday, Netflix launched its online video-streaming service in France. Apple Inc. managed to remain above water, rising 57 cents a share to $102.24 U.S. On Friday, Apple said it had received a record number of pre-orders for its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus smartphones. Official figures from China on Saturday showed the country's industrial output growth slipped in August to its lowest level since the 2008 global financial crisis, dealing a blow to companies and economies dependent on China. Investors are watching for signs that the Fed may signal the start of interest-rate hikes earlier than expected ahead of a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting set to begin Tuesday. The Empire State manufacturing survey improved to a near five-year high, though the details were not as strong as the headline index, the New York Fed said Monday. Futures have not moved after the release. Separately, industrial production declined unexpectedly in August to mark the first drop since January, and a series of revisions left output in July lower than previously estimated, according to data released Monday. Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, lowering yields to 2.60% from Friday's 2.61%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. Oil prices gained 23 cents to $92.50 U.S. a barrel. Gold prices gained $2.70 to $1,234.20 U.S. an ounce. © 1998 - 2014 Baystreet.ca Media Corp. All rights reserved. |