Canadian stocks may struggle to sustain gains at open Monday amid weak commodities and varied cues from the global equity markets. While most Asian markets ended lower overnight, European shares were trading mixed following better-than-expected earnings reports from JP Morgan released last week.
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a marginally lower open after the U.S., financial services giant Citigroup Inc. (C) reported a drop in second-quarter net income to $2.95 billion or $0.95 per share from $3.34 billion a year before.
On Friday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 89.05 points or 0.78 percent to 11,514.53.
The price of crude oil edged down Monday morning as traders await cues from the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to Congress, this week. Crude for August was down $0.39 to $86.71 a barrel.
The price of gold was ticking lower Monday morning amid a steady U.S. dollar. Gold for August shed $11.70 to $1,580.30 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM.TO) said it would pay $147.2 million in a litigation against Mformation Technologies Inc.
The Canadian government on Sunday approved Swiss commodities trader Glencore International plc's C$6.1 billion acquisition of the nation's biggest grain handler Viterra Inc. (VT.TO).
Oil and gas company MEG Energy Corp. (MEG.TO) said it is planning to begin a private offering of $700 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes due in 2023.
Highway traffic management software provider International Road Dynamics (IRD.TO) swung to profit in second quarter, reporting net income of C$235,000 or C$0.02 per share compared to a net loss of C$879,000 or C$0.06 per share in the same quarter last year.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said non-residents acquired a record $26.1 billion of Canadian securities in May, mainly in the form of government debt securities. Canadian investors made a modest $1.3 billion purchase of foreign securities in the month, following a divestment in April.
From south of the border, U.S. retail sales posted an unexpected and severe drop for June, according to the Commerce Department. Advance estimates for U.S. retail sales for June came in at a seasonally adjusted level of $401.5 billion, a 0.5 percent drop from May levels. Most economists had expected retail sales, which fell 0.2 percent in May, to rebound in June rather than continuing to contract, with the consensus forecast predicting 0.2 percent growth.
Elsewhere, euro zone inflation was 2.4 percent in June, unchanged from the previous month, the latest report from Eurostat showed. The figure matched the preliminary estimate. The rate was the lowest since February 2011. On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices fell 0.1 percent.
A separate report from the Eurostat revealed that trade surplus in the region rose more than expected by economists in May. The trade balance was in a surplus of EUR 6.9 billion in May, higher than EUR 3.7 billion in April. Economists expected the surplus to rise to EUR 4 billion.
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