TORONTO -- North American stock markets were muted Tuesday amid a relatively quiet week that has so far been thin on economic news.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index was flat, gaining 2.88 points to 14,684.85 as financials and industrials stocks offset losses in the gold and materials sectors.
Even major corporate news was unable to place the TSX on strong footing in positive territory.
Fertilizer companies PotashCorp (TSX:POT) and Agrium Inc. (TSX:AGU) confirmed they were in preliminary merger talks. Both companies' stocks benefited from the news, with shares in PotashCorp gaining more than 11 per cent, or $2.40, to $23.30. Shares in Agrium climbed more than seven per cent, or $8.56, to $125.09.
Meanwhile, Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) was the latest major bank to report strong earnings results. Scotia said it had a profit of $1.96 billion in its latest quarter, up six per cent from a year ago. Its shares closed 1.55 per cent higher, or $1.07, to $69.93.
Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investments, noted that although those companies saw their shares surge, the gains were not enough to lift the whole market.
"The problem is that the market has gotten too far ahead of itself in Canada, so people are reluctant to push it up significantly higher at this stage without oil going higher and better job numbers coming out of Canada," he said.
"People still realize that the risks are still there in housing and household debt as well, too."
Wall Street was similarly tepid, with the Dow Jones industrial average down by 48.69 points to 18,454.30, the broader S&P 500 composite index losing 4.26 points to 2,176.12 and the Nasdaq composite shedding 9.34 points to 5,222.99.
Adatia said U.S. investors were also shying away from making any big bets until the latest job employment figures are released Friday.
Depending on what the numbers show, it may give the U.S. Federal Reserve enough evidence to move ahead with an interest rate hike this year.
Last week, Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen said in a speech that the central bank was still considering whether a raise in September or December was warranted.
"The Fed has been talking about being data-dependent and watching information closely. The job report is an important element of that," said Adatia.
Meanwhile, in currency markets, the Canadian dollar declined by 0.43 of a cent to 76.36 cents US as oil prices weakened for a second straight day.
The October crude contract was down 63 cents at US$46.35 per barrel and October natural gas was down seven cents at US$2.83 per mmBTU.
December gold dropped $10.60 to US$1,316.50 an ounce and December copper contracts were unchanged at US$2.08 a pound.
