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Stocks Boast Slight Gains

Canada's main stock index rose slightly on Monday, lifted by material stocks that gained on rise in gold prices as lower U.S. Treasury yields and inflation worries made bullion more attractive.

The TSX revived 32.28 points by noon Monday to 19,398.97.

The Canadian dollar regrouped 0.24 cents Monday to 82.79 cents U.S.

The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Endeavour Silver which jumped 3.9%, and Whitecap Resources, which rose 3.6% after dividend hike.

Boralex fell 2.9%, the most on the TSX, and the second biggest decliner was Innergex Renewable Energy, down 2.3%.

On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada revealed Canadian investment in foreign securities totalled $21.2 billion in March, mainly from purchases of U.S. shares. Meanwhile, foreign investment in Canadian securities was $3.2 billion, mostly in acquisitions of Canadian shares.

Also, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation tells us that housing starts the trend in housing starts was 279,055 units in April, up from 272,164 units in March. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange gained 10.09 points mid-Monday at 941.47

Seven of the 12 subgroups were lower by noon hour, with industrials dawdling 1.2%, utilities shrinking 0.6%, and information technology down 0.5%.

The five gainers were led by gold, up 3.1%, materials, charging 1.9%, and health-care, stronger by 1.8%.

ON WALLSTREET

Persistent weakness in technology stocks kept the major indexes under pressure on Monday after last week’s hotter-than-expected inflation readings sparked a downturn in equity markets.

The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 126.5 points to 34,264.35, as Home Depot and Boeing weighed on the blue-chip index.

The S&P 500 fell 15.25 points to 4,158.60.

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The NASDAQ slipped 83.46 points to 13,346.52.

Big Tech quickly came under pressure to start the week, with Apple and Facebook each down 0.8%, Netflix down 1% and Google-parent Alphabet shedding 0.6%. Traders have punished the technology sector in recent weeks amid a broader shift out of growth stocks and into cyclical, reopening trades in energy, financials and materials.

Communication services stocks Discovery and AT&T bucked that trend, both up on news of a merger agreement. AT&T announced Monday that it is in advanced talks to merge WarnerMedia, which includes HBO, with Discovery. The new entity will trade as its own public company.

Discovery’s Class c stock rose 17.3%, while AT&T added about 4%.

Bitcoin was taken for a wild ride overnight Sunday. Earlier, the price tumbled below $43,000 after Elon Musk implied in a Twitter exchange that Tesla may have dumped its bitcoin holdings. Last week, Tesla said it would no longer accept bitcoin for car purchases due to environmental concerns.

Bitcoin then rebounded some after Musk later clarified in a tweet that the electric vehicle maker "has not sold any Bitcoin." The price was last at $45,505. Tesla stock lost 1.5%.

Elsewhere, the first-quarter earnings season is wrapping up with more than 90% of the S&P 500 companies having reported their results. So far, 86% of S&P 500 companies have reported a positive EPS surprise, which would mark the highest percentage of positive earnings surprises since 2008 when FactSet began tracking this metric.

Walmart, Home Depot and Macy’s will deliver earnings on Tuesday.

Prices for 10-Year Treasurys fell, raising yields to 1.64% from Friday’s 1.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices surged 82 cents to $66.19 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $28.00 to $1,886.10 U.S. an ounce.