TSX moves lower as Wall St. takes breather

Canada’s main stock index moved lower on Monday, while Wall Street largely started off in the green but lost steam throughout the day.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 88.84 points at 21324.31.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 62.30 points at 39069.23.The S&P 500 index was down 19.27 points at 5069.53,while the Nasdaq composite was down 20.57 points at 15976.25.

Monday was a quiet day, without major news to drive the markets, said Lesley Marks, chief investment officer of equities at Mackenzie Investments.

Investors were still digesting the news from last week, when stocks surged after another blowout earnings report from chipmaker Nvidia, she said.

“I think investors are really just trying to figure out their positioning for the rest of the year, given the strong moves that we’ve seen already year-to-date globally.”

However, it’s a good sign that markets continued to hold on to last week’s gains, said Marks.

Right now, there are two main things driving U.S. equities, she said — the ongoing resilience of the economy, and optimism around tech growth on the back of artificial intelligence.

“So you have two very favourable tailwinds that can actually rationalize the levels that we’ve seen,” she said.

Because of that, concern over interest rates is being overshadowed, said Marks — even though the market has had to significantly temper expectations for cuts in 2024 over the past couple of months.

This week will see new data on Canada’s economy, which hasn’t been as resilient as the U.S., noted Marks. Canada will also get an influx of earnings from the big banks.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation is coming out, she added, and investors will look to see whether it’s consistent with recent data that’s been higher than expected.

“It’s a very big week for data all around the world,” said Marks.

The Canadian dollar traded for 73.99 cents US compared with 74.11 cents US on Friday.

The April crude contract was up $1.09 US at $77.58 US per barrel and the April natural gas contract was up five cents at $1.74 US per mmBTU.

The April gold contract was down $10.50 US at $2,038.90 US an ounce and the May copper contract was down seven cents at $3.83 US a pound.

Strike at Air Transat avoided after flight attendants’ deal

MONTREAL — The risk of a strike at Air Transat has lifted after flight attendants voted in favour of a new collective agreement.

The 2,100 flight attendants voted 62.7 per cent in favour of the terms recommended by federal mediators.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees said the collective agreement, which is retroactive to Nov. 1, 2022, makes Air Transat flight attendants the highest paid in the industry.

The terms include total compound salary increases of 30 per cent over five years, the elimination of the two lowest salary tiers and other benefits like more vacation days.

Air Transat’s chief people officer Julie Lamontagne said in a statement that following an “unprecedented process,” the company is pleased to offer competitive working conditions.