Stocks in Toronto closed higher Monday led by a jump in tech stocks as investors digested a huge drop in domestic manufacturing data.
The TSX Composite index rose 19.30 points to 20157.65.
Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales fell 2.1 per cent to $57.1 billion in April as the auto industry was hurt by a continued shortage of semiconductor chips that prompted companies to halt or slow production.
The agency said transportation equipment sales fell 23.6 per cent to $6.4 billion as motor vehicle sales fell 36.5 per cent to $2.3 billion in April, the largest month-over-month decrease since April 2020.
Sales in the motor vehicle parts industry fell 19.0 per cent to $1.9 billion.
Hexo Corp. reported a loss of $20.7 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $19.5 million in the same quarter last year.
The cannabis company loss amounted to 17 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30 compared with a loss of 26 cents per diluted share a year earlier when it had fewer shares outstanding.
The Canadian dollar edged up 0.09 cents to 82.33 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.91 points to 977.79.
Four of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green Monday, with tech stocks hiking 2.16%, utility issues up 0.51% and industrial stocks jumping 0.51%.
On the downside, health care stocks dipped 2.20% followed by a 0.86% retreat in material issues and a 0.84% decline in consumer discretionary stocks.
ON WALLSTREET
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 on Monday closed at record levels as Wall Street prepared for a key meeting of the Federal Reserve later this week.
The S&P 500 closed up 0.18% to 4,255 to mark its third consecutive record closing high, while the Nasdaq climbed 0.74%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85 points, or 0.25%, to 34,393.
Investors will be keeping a close eye on an upcoming announcement on interest rates from the Federal Reserve's policy-setting body, the Federal Open Market Committee, on Wednesday, followed by a press conference from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.
While the U.S. central bank isn't expected to take any action with respect to rates or a tapering of monthly asset purchases, Wall Street will be monitoring the meeting closely for the Fed's forecasts on inflation and the strength of the economic recovery.
Lordstown Motors (RIDE) said Monday that CEO Steve Burns and Chief Financial Officer Julio Rodriguez have resigned, days after the electric truck maker warned it had “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern in the next year. Lordstown plunged.
Biotech firm Novavax said Monday its Covid vaccine was shown to be safe and 90.4% effective overall in a phase three clinical trial of nearly 30,000 participants across the U.S. and Mexico. The two-dose vaccine was found to be 100% effective in preventing moderate and severe disease and 93% effective against some variants. Novavax plans to file for authorization with the FDA in the third quarter.
Gold slipped to the lowest in almost a month as a U.S. bond rally lost steam ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, which may give clues on future monetary policy.
Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,863.98 per ounce.
Oil prices rose on Monday, Brent settled up 17 cents at $72.86 a barrel.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury rose to around 1.499%.
