Canada's main stock index was muted on Tuesday as a rise in long-term bond yields pressured rate-sensitive stocks like utilities and limited overall gains led by mining shares, while investors awaited earnings from megacap Alphabet.
The TSX surrendered 45.1 points to pause for lunch Tuesday at 24,520.56.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.11 cents to 71.89 cents U.S.
The U.S. presidential election has entered its final stretch and market bets have been favoring a second Donald Trump administration in recent weeks.
Looking ahead, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem is expected to appear at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance at 03:30 p.m. ET.
In corporate news, the U.S. Department of Energy finalized a $2.26-billion loan for Lithium Americas on Monday to build Nevada's Thacker Pass lithium mine. Lithium Americas stock bounced 93 cents, or 16.1%, to $6.70.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 2.46 points to 619.61.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground midday, with communications down 1.7%, utilities off 1.6%, and energy 0.8% less energetic.
The four gainers were led by gold, materials and information technology, each up 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was flat Tuesday as investors readied for key corporate earnings releases, including reports from notable tech names.
The Dow Jones Industrials let go of 42.75 points midday Tuesday to 42,344.82
The much-broader index gained 10.21 points to 5,833.73.
The NASDAQ captured 90.97 points to 18,658.16.
Alphabet, Snap, Reddit, Chipotle and Advanced Micro Devices are all scheduled to post their quarterly results after the market closes. Tech juggernauts Meta Platforms and Microsoft are slated to report Wednesday, while Apple is up on Thursday.
Ahead of their earnings releases, shares of Meta and Alphabet advanced more than 1% on Tuesday.
This will mark the busiest week of the earnings season with more than 150 S&P 500 companies scheduled to have reported by Friday’s close.
The major averages are coming off a winning session. Notably, the blue-chip Dow broke a five-day losing streak, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ notched its eighth positive session of the last nine.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped Tuesday, hiking yields to 4.32% from Monday’s 4.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices shed 38 cents to $67.00 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold sprang up by $22.10 an ounce to $2.778 U.S.
