Photo Bloomberg.
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The Toronto Stock Exchange suffered a third straight day of decline. By finishing in dispersed order, Wall Street continued a lackluster start to the week, despite an expected figure on consumption, which ultimately hardly influenced the market.
In Toronto, the S & P / TSX lost 62.43 points, or 0.42%, to 14,980.72 points.
The Canadian dollar closed at 83.56 US cents, up 0.35 US cents .;
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was basically flat at 2,098.48 points; The Dow Jones fell 7.74 points, or 0.04%, to 18,060.49 points; the Nasdaq climbed 5.5 points, or 0.11%, to 4,981.69 points;
The price per barrel of oil (WTI) for June delivery fell 25 cents to $ 60.50 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex).
In London, the price of a barrel of Brent for delivery in June ended up following the trend and yielded 5 cents to end the session at 66.81 dollars on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Here is the situation at 12 p.m.
The action of fair(Tor., FSZ) rose 1.36% to $ 13.38 after posting earnings per share slightly above analysts’ expectations. Read our text on the results
The action of Macy’s(NY, M) lost 2.45% to US $ 63.73 on the New York Stock Exchange after reporting below expectations. The weather and the appreciation of the US dollar, which has discouraged tourists from spending at its establishments, have hurt retailers.
Among the other titles that move, the Montreal retailer The castle(Tor., CTU.A) continues to see its value erode. It hit a new multi-year low at $ 0.47.
South of the border, the airline Delta Air Lines (NY, DAL) gained 1.48% to US $ 46.78, after halving its dividend and increasing its buyout program to $ 5 billion. actions by 2017.
Read: Headlines to watch today
In search of benchmarks
The stock market, which began the week with two sessions of slight decline, has struggled to orient itself since a sharp rise on Friday, which followed the publication of correct figures, without being exceptional, on US employment in April.
“Almost nothing happened” Wednesday, summed up Peter Cardillo of Rockwell Global Capital. “The market really has no direction (…) and its level varies little”.
The Stock Exchange obviously struggled to interpret the main indicator of the day, a disappointing stagnation in retail sales in April, which however clearly influenced the foreign exchange market by weighing down the dollar.
“The US economy doesn’t look as strong as a lot of people thought,” said Bill Lynch of Hinsdale Associates. “It looks like consumers have been saving money at the pump (due to falling energy prices) instead of spending it. As consumption accounts for two thirds of gross domestic product (GDP), this is not a good sign for growth ”.
On Wall Street, “the values of transport have fallen sharply”, its sector index losing more than 1% in the Dow Jones, “obviously because of this mediocre figure on retail sales,” said Mr. Cardillo.
Nevertheless, overall, the market did not panic in the face of this disappointment, which, for some observers, presents a reassuring aspect by dismissing the prospect of an imminent rate hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed), currently. almost zero.
The markets, which are now awaiting a price figure on Thursday and another on industrial production on Friday, are looking to anticipate the timetable the central bank will follow to withdraw its support to the economy.
The bond market, which has fallen since the middle of last month, has resumed its decline.
At the end of the afternoon, the yield on 30-year Treasury bills rose to 3.082%, from 3.018% the night before, indicating a drop in demand for US debt, and that of 10-year bills advanced. at 2.289% against 2.256% previously.
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