TSX Slides to Begin Week

Canada's main stock index opened lower on Monday, as energy stocks tracked weakness in crude prices sparked by fresh COVID-19 outbreaks across Asia, while sentiment across global markets was subdued on inflation pressures.

Futures for Canada's main stock index fell on Monday, tracking weakness in crude prices, while sentiment across global markets was subdued on inflation pressures.

The TSX dropped 21.74 points to open Monday at 19,344.95.

The Canadian dollar regrouped 0.11 cents Monday to 82.66 cents U.S.

Centerra Gold said on Sunday it had initiated binding arbitration against Kyrgyzstan government, after the parliament passed a law allowing the state to temporarily take over the country's biggest industrial enterprise, the Kumtor gold mine operated by Centerra.

Shares in Centerra were static at $8.64.

ATB Capital Markets raised the rating on Bombardier to "speculative buy" from "sector perform.” Bombardier shares gained three cents, or 3.5%, to 90 cents.

National Bank of Canada raised the rating on Pan American Silver to "outperform" from "sector perform.” Pan Am shares gathered 85 cents, or 2.3%, to $38.31.

RBC raised the target price on SNC Lavalin to $40.00 from $33.00. SNC shares tacked on 65 cents, or 2%, to $32.82.

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 inched ahead 0.33 points to begin Monday at 931.71

Eight of the 12 subgroups were lower in the first hour, with health-care and utilities each down 0.6%, while information technology slid 0.4%.

The four gainers were led by gold, brightening 0.5%, energy up 0.3% and materials 0.1% to the good.

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 117.78 points to 34,264.35, as Home Depot and Boeing weighed on the blue-chip index.

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

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 did not move from Friday’s 1.63%.

Oil prices surged 45 cents to $65.82 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $16.30 to $1,854.40 U.S. an ounce.