TSX likely to move lower as traders return after holiday weekend

TORONTO – The Toronto stock market appears ready to angle lower on Tuesday morning as traders return after the holiday.

The TSX was closed on Monday for a provincial holiday, while Wall Street remained open for trading and closed lower on key exchanges.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.13 of a cent to 96.38 cents US early Tuesday.

In commodities, December gold pulled back $14.80 to US$1,287.60 an ounce.

The September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up 34 cents to US$106.90 a barrel.

Dow Jones industrial futures are down 31 points to 15,523. S&P futures have given up three points to 1,699.50. Nasdaq futures are down two points to 3,134.

Stocks appear to have come off the boil in recent sessions as the run of corporate and economic news that marked the turn of the month has slowed down. With August traditionally a low-volume trading month, many analysts think stocks may drift over the coming period.

The main focus in markets remains on when the U.S. Federal Reserve will start to reduce its monetary stimulus. At present, the Fed is buying $85 billion worth of financial assets a month in an attempt to keep long-term borrowing rates low and inspire growth. Economists remain divided whether the Fed will start the so-called tapering in September or wait until later in the year.

In earnings, Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE:TAP) (TSX:TPX) delivered a bigger profit in the second quarter, handily beating analyst estimates.

The North American beer maker says its profit from continuing operations in the second quarter was US$276.7 million, or $1.50 per share or $1.51 with discontinued operations included. Analysts had estimated US$1.38 per share of adjusted earnings and US$1.41 of net income.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was more or less unchanged at 6,619 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 per cent to 8,430. The CAC-40 in France was 0.2 per cent higher at 4,057. For the U.S. opening, both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures were expected to open steady.

Earlier, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 finished 1 per cent higher at 14,401.06 but South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.5 per cent to 1,906.62. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.3 per cent to 21,923.70, dragged down by HSBC Holdings, which plunged 5 per cent a day after the bank reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the first half of the year.