Canadian stocks may struggle to sustain recent gains Monday morning after recording smart gains in the past two-sessions after the Federal Reserve embarked on a third round of quantitative easing and promised to keep interest at rock-bottom rates until mid-2015.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a lower open.
On Friday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index extended gains for a fourth session, adding 139.31 points or 1.13 percent to 12,499.47.
The price of crude oil was leveling off from its recent high Monday morning as traders await further cues from this week's economic data. Crude for October eased $0.10 to $98.90 a barrel.
The price of gold was hovering around its seven-month high Monday morning as the US dollar continued to trade weak on QE3 announcements. Gold for December slipped $1.20 to $1,771.50 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW) said it has formally withdrawn its non-binding $1.80 billion proposal to buy all of the issued and outstanding common shares of RONA (RON.TO) for C$14.50 in cash per share.
Real estate investment trust Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust (CUF_UN.TO) announced that it has closed the acquisition of a portfolio of 68 properties in Montréal, Québec City and Ottawa from GE Capital Real Estate's Canadian equity platform comprising a total of 4.3 million square feet.
Full-service investment dealer Canaccord Financial Inc. (CF.TO) announce that it has appointed Peter O'Malley as Chief Executive Officer or CEO of Canaccord Genuity Asia.
Biopharmaceutical company Cangene Corp. (CNJ.TO ) said its wholly owned subsidiary, Cangene Plasma Resources, Inc. would sell three of its U.S. based plasma centres to Spanish company, Grifols.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said non-resident investors acquired $6.7 billion of Canadian securities in July, following a $7.8 billion divestment in June. Meanwhile, Canadian investment in foreign securities strengthened to $4.6 billion and was equally split between debt and equity securities.
From the U.S., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said its general business conditions index fell to a negative 10.41 in September from a negative 5.85 in August, with a negative reading indicating a contraction in regional manufacturing activity. Economists had been expecting the index to climb to a negative 2.0.
Elsewhere, the euro zone trade surplus rose to EUR 15.6 billion in July from EUR 13.6 billion in June, Eurostat said. In July 2011, the trade surplus totaled EUR 2.1 billion. Exports dropped 2 percent month-on-month in July after rising 2.4 percent in June. Likewise, imports fell 1.2 percent, reversing last month's 0.7 percent rise.
by RTT Staff Writer
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