Stocks in Toronto ended Monday pretty much unchanged from Friday’s record levels, as health-care strength overcame poor performance in consumer stocks.
The TSX eked up 6.11 points to end Monday at 20,035.30, only a matter of points above the record levels at which it ended last week.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.01 to 82.80 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Trillium Therapeutics, up $1.60, or 14.8%, to $11.28, and Aurora Cannabis, which rose 88, or 7.9%, to $11.96.
Among real-estate interests, Interrent REIT tallied 39 cents, or 2.5%, to $16.04, while Crombie REIT improved 39 cents, or 2.2%, to $17.93.
In the tech field, BlackBerry rocketed $2.15, or 12.8%, to $18.89, while Sierra Wireless picked up 68 cents, or 3.5%, to $20.08.
In the consumer discretionary field, BRP declined $3.91, or 4.1%, to $92.75, while Magna International fell $4.58, or 3.7%, to $120.66.
Industrials had a rough go of it, too, with TFI International down $5.23, oer 4.6%, to $109.03, while Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers let go of $1.66, or 2.3%, to $70.29.
Among materials, Canfor Corp. lost a dollar, or 3.6%, to $26.84, while Hudbay Minerals handed over 46 cents, or 5%, to $8.77.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.96 points to 977.05.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided by the closing bell, as health-care vaulted 4.1%, while real-estate amassed 1.1%, and information technology rumbled 1% higher.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by consumer discretionary stocks, falling 1.6%, while industrials slid 1%, and materials ditched 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell slightly on Monday as the benchmark struggled to make a run at a record high after a winning week.
The Dow Jones Industrials staggered 126.15 points to close at 34,630.24
The S&P 500 dipped 3.37 points to 4,226.52. Materials and industrials were the biggest losing sectors on Monday, weighing on the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ jumped 67.23 points to 13,881.72.
Meme stocks were back in the spotlight again this week. AMC rallied as much as 25% on Monday and closed nearly 15% higher, while GameStop and BlackBerry also popped double digits.
Most of these speculative stocks ended the week in the red despite massive gains after a volatile trading week.
Visa shares gained slightly on Monday following an upgrade by Piper Sandler.
Over the weekend the G-7 nations reached an agreement on global tax reform, calling for the world’s largest corporations to pay at least a 15% tax on their earnings.
That’s lower than the Biden administration’s initial suggestion of a minimum 21% tax rate, which didn’t garner much enthusiasm in other countries. Major companies including Facebook and Google have responded favorably to the agreement.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys bowed, raising yields to 1.57% from Friday’s 1.56%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 39 cents to $69.23 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grabbed $10.70 to $1,902.70 U.S. an ounce.
