Canada's main stock index was subdued on Monday, with technology shares leading gains, ahead of crucial monetary policy decisions in the U.S. and Canada later this week.
The TSX dipped 92.03 points to pause for lunch Monday at 31,219.38.
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.07 at 72.21 cents U.S.
Among corporate updates, Anglo American said it withdrew a proposal to change executive directors' bonus awards from a shareholder vote on its merger with Teck Resources, after investors raised concerns about the policy.
Teck shareholders are scheduled to vote on the merger on December 9. Teck shares reached noon EST Monday down 59 cents, or 1%, to $61.77.
Technology stocks led gains with a 0.8% advance. Heavyweight data-center infrastructure provider Celestica added $15.65, or 3.5% to $465.17, while Blackberry rose 1.3%.
Industrials was also a boost with defense company Bombardier gaining five cents to $6.02.
On the flipside, the communication services index led declines with Rogers down $1.19, or 2.3%, to $50.68, and BCE dropping 53 cents to 1.3% to $32.17.
Gold and mining shares also came under pressure, tracking metal prices after having led the index to record highs this year.
Among other stocks, Transcontinental shares jumped $3.89, or 19.4%, to $23.90 after agreeing to sell its packaging unit to ProAmpac Holdings, valuing it at $2.22 billion, including debt.
Lithium Americas is set to join S&P/TSX Index, effective December 22. Shares stayed put at $7.36.
The Bank of Canada is expected to hold interest rates at 2.25% later this week. The BoC has cut rates by one percentage point since the start of the year, and signaled a halt in rate cuts in October, citing stable inflation.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchanged dropped 10.25 points, or 1.1%, to 929.51.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, health-care each shed 1.3%, while gold and materials shares dulled in price 1.1%.
The two gainers were industrials, better by 0.6%, and information technology, ahead 0.3%.
Financials were unchanged midday Monday.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 pulled back on Monday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s last meeting of the year later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials weakened 217.25 points Monday to break for lunch at 47,737.74.
The much-broader index dipped 31.34 points to 6,839.06.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ gave back 74.96 points to 23,503.17.
During Monday’s session, technology was a strong spot. Broadcom shares jumped 2% and hit a new record high on the heels of The Information reporting that Microsoft is discussing designing custom chips with the chipmaker.
Meanwhile, Confluent shares surged 29% after IBM said that it’s going to acquire the company in an $11 billion deal — which is expected to close by the middle of 2026. Oracle shares inched up amid investor optimism ahead of the company’s quarterly results on Wednesday.
Oracle shares climbed more than 1% amid investor optimism ahead of the company’s quarterly results on Wednesday.
Monday’s action comes after a second positive week in a row for the three major indexes. The Dow added 0.5% and NASDAQ jumped 0.9%, in the week.
The S&P 500 added around 0.3% last week, bringing the broad index about 0.7% off its all-time intraday high. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ also notched four-day winning streaks on Friday, while the Dow has been positive in three of the last four sessions.
Stocks received a boost on Friday after the delayed release of September’s core personal consumption expenditures price index came in softer than economists anticipated.
That was one of the last major economic releases ahead of the Fed’s policy gathering taking place this week.
Traders have grown increasingly hopeful over recent weeks that the Fed will lower interest rates at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which is the final one of the year.
Fed funds futures are pricing in a roughly 87% chance of a decrease, up from under 67% a month ago
The 10-year Treasury swooned, raising yields to 4.17% from Friday’s 4.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 98 cents to $59.10
Gold prices faded $32.40 to $4,219.60.
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