Equities in Canada’s largest market finished a rough Monday morning by springing back toward the breakeven mark by noon, as energy and tech stocks acquired momentum
The TSX Composite were behind Friday’s close by 5.78 points to 21,100.22, as morning turned to afternoon Monday.
Toronto-Dominion Bank Group inched 0.9% lower, after Canada’s second largest lender said it would buy First Horizon Corp in an all-cash deal for $13.4 billion to expand its footprint in the United States.
Last week, major lenders including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Canada reported earnings above Wall Street expectations.
Commerce shares wilted $2.73, or 1.7%, to $160.88, while National tailed off 95 cents to $101.83, and RBC gave up 73 cents to $139.64 Monday.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said its industrial product price index was up rose 3.0% month over month in January and was 16.9% higher than in January 2021, while its raw materials price index was up 6.5% on a monthly basis in January 2022 and up 30.5% year over year.
ON BAYSTREET
The Canadian dollar leaped 0.56 cents to 78.95 cents U.S.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with financials poorer 1%, consumer staples falling 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks down 0.6%.
The five gainers were led by energy, up 1.6%, information technology up 1.3%, and utilities ahead 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks cut early losses on Monday as investors monitored developments in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including a new batch of sanctions from the U.S. and its allies.
The Dow Jones Industrials deferred 177.58 points to 33,881.17
The S&P 500 faded 10.3 points to 4,374.35
The NASDAQ Composite Index regained 59.29 points to 13,753.92.
Defense stocks like Lockheed Martin rose 5%, and Northrop Grumman picked up 6.6%. Cybersecurity stocks also outperformed, with Crowdstrike jumping 6%, helping boost the NASDAQ
Bank stocks were under pressure, with JPMorgan falling 2.1%.
Lower bond yields appeared to boost tech stocks, helping the market to reverse its early losses. Shares of Tesla jumped 7%, while chipmaker Nvidia rose more than 1%.
The moves come amid turmoil over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces have held key cities including the capital of Kyiv. At the same time, Ukraine officials have arrived near the border for talks with Russian officials.
In the most recent financial developments, the Central Bank of Russia more than doubled its key interest rate, to 20% from 9.5% in reaction to a currency move that saw the ruble tumble nearly 16% against the U.S. dollar.
Over the weekend, the U.S. joined allies in Europe and Canada in moving to bar key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT. The system connects more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in more than 200 countries and territories.
Russian military vehicles entered Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv with reports of fighting taking place and residents being warned to stay in shelters.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 1.87% from 1.98% on Friday. Treasury prices and yhields move in opposite directions.
The price of oil jumped $3.78 to $95.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices held onto gains of six dollars to $1,893.60 U.S. per ounce,