Canadian Stocks Are Down On Commodity Weakness -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is falling in early trade Tuesday, extending its losses from the previous two sessions. Weakness in commodity prices is pressuring gold, mining and energy stocks this morning.

European markets are under pressure Tuesday, due to continued concerns over Greece. The country is expected to make a 300 million euros payment to the International Monetary Fund next week. Greece's government on Monday ruled out imposing controls over capital flows over the upcoming long weekend, after an opposition lawmaker suggested the move if the country fails to strike a deal with its creditors soon.

Sentiment was also impacted by political uncertainty in Spain, where Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's Popular Party suffered its worst result in 20 years in a municipal election, as the voters punished his government for four years of austerity and a raft of corruption scandals before a general election due in November.

Markets in the United States are also down in early trade Tuesday, after returning to action following the Memorial Day holiday. A number of U.S. economic reports were released this morning, the majority of which were better than anticipated.

Largely reflecting a pullback in orders for transportation equipment, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a modest decrease in new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods in the month of April.

The report said durable goods orders dipped by 0.5 percent in April, with the modest decrease matching economists' consensus estimate.

Home prices in major U.S. metropolitan areas continued to show notable annual growth in the month of March, according to a report released by Standard & Poor's on Tuesday.

The report said the 20-City Composite Home Price Index rose 5.0 percent year-over-year in March, unchanged from the annual growth seen in February. Economists had expected the rate of growth to slow to 4.6 percent.

Following the pullback seen in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that U.S. new home sales rebounded by more than expected in the month of April. The report said new home sales climbed 6.8 percent to an annual rate of 517,000 in April from the revised March rate of 484,000.

Economists had expected new home sales to rise to a rate of 509,000 from the 481,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Consumer confidence in the U.S. improved modestly in May after declining sharply in April, the Conference Board revealed in a report released on Tuesday. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index rose to 95.4 in May from a downwardly revised 94.3 in April.

Economists had expected the consumer confidence index to dip to 95.0 from the 95.2 originally reported for the previous month.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 80.89 points or 0.53 percent at 15,106.51.

On Monday, the index closed down 13.36 points or 0.09 percent, at 15,195.11. The index scaled an intraday high of 15,205.34 and a low of 15,172.15.

The Gold Index is sinking by 1.91 percent. Gold prices continued to fall Tuesday morning amid mounting speculation that the Federal Reserve will hike rates in either July or September.

B2Gold (BTO.TO) is falling by 2.36 percent and Goldcorp (G.TO) is declining by 2.18 percent. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is losing 1.17 percent and IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is down 3.76 percent. Kinross Gold (K.TO) is decreasing by 3.39 percent.

Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is lower by 4.03 percent. The company announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Zijin Mining Group Co.

The Capped Materials Index is also down 1.44 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is falling by 2.61 percent and Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is losing 1.50 percent. Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) is decreasing by 0.64 percent and Agrium is lower by 0.89 percent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT.TO) is declining by 0.61 percent.

Pan American Silver (PAA.TO) is down 3.26 percent. The company announced that two employees sustained fatal injuries in a single vehicle accident at its Manantial Espejo mine in Santa Cruz, Argentina, on Saturday.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is dipping by 0.40 percent. HudBay Mineral (HBM.TO) is lower by 1.59 percent and Capstone Mining (CS.TO) is losing 2.84 percent. Teck Resources (TCK-A.TO) is decreasing by 0.97 percent and Sherritt International (S.TO) is down 2.85 percent.

The Energy Index is decreasing by 1.01 percent. Crude oil prices were little changed Tuesday morning, unable to top the $60 a barrel mark amid signs that OPEC will continue to pump oil at a breakneck pace.

OPEC nations meet June 5 in Vienna, where they are likely to retain current output in hopes of stifling competition from non-OPEC nations.

Encana (ECA.TO) is declining by 0.37 percent and Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) is lower by 0.57 percent. Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is falling by 1.25 percent and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is decreasing 1.54 percent.

Legacy Oil + Gas (LEG.TO) is dropping by 3.64 percent and Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is weakening by 0.67 percent.

The heavyweight Financial Index is lower by 0.60 percent. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is declining by 0.51 percent and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is lower by 0.65 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) losing 0.45 percent and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is decreasing by 1.03 percent. Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is also down 0.68 percent.

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is falling by 0.96 percent. The company has agreed to acquire Nordstrom's existing U.S. Visa and private label consumer credit card portfolio. The bank will also become the exclusive U.S. issuer of Nordstrom-branded Visa and private label consumer credit cards to Nordstrom customers.

The Capped Industrials Index is lower by 0.21 percent. Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO) is down 0.13 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) is falling by 0.87 percent. Bombardier (BBD-A.TO) is declining by 0.40 percent and Finning International (FTT.TO) is lower by 1.31 percent.

CAE Inc. (CAE.TO) is slipping by 0.46 percent. The company's fourth quarter earnings per share improved to C$0.24 from C$0.23 in the previous year.

On the economic front, British retailers posted strong growth in sales this month and their outlook for sales and orders improved at an even stronger pace in the year to June, the quarterly Distributive Trades Survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Tuesday.

A balance of 51 percent said sales increased in May, up from the prior month's balance of 12 percent and expectations of 40 percent.

In commodities, crude oil futures for June delivery are down $1.18 or 1.98 percent at $58.54 a barrel.

Natural gas for June is down $0.081 or 2.81 percent at $2.806 per million btu.

Gold futures for June are down $15.80 or 1.31 percent at $1,188.20 an ounce.

Silver for July is down $0.241 or 1.41 percent at $16.81 an ounce.