Canadian Stocks Are Tracking Global Markets Lower -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - The Canadian stock market is trading firmly in the red Tuesday morning, tracking the weakness of equity markets around the globe. The majority of Canadian sectors are declining this morning, with the exception of those tied to the price of gold. Gold prices are rebounding amidst a sell-off in equities.

Markets in Europe are pulling back from 7-year highs this morning. Concerns over the uncertainty in Greece have had a negative impact on investor sentiment. Now that the anti-austerity Syriza party has taken control of the country, investors are concerned over the potential outcome of debt re-negotiations. A Greek exit of the eurozone also remains a very real possibility.

Markets in the United States are also under pressure Tuesday. A number of disappointing corporate earnings reports are weighing on investor sentiment, as the strong dollar impacts financial results. Disappointing results were reported by companies such as Microsoft and Caterpillar.

Also, new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods unexpectedly showed a substantial decrease in the month of December, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. The drop was partly due to a sharp decline in orders for transportation equipment.

The report said durable goods orders tumbled by 3.4 percent in December following a revised 2.1 percent decrease in November. Economists had expected durable goods orders to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.7 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 134.64 points or 0.91 percent at 14,663.19. The index reached an early high of 14,773.46.

On Monday, the index closed up 18.48 points or 0.13 percent, at 14,797.83. The index scaled an intraday high of 14,803.73 and a low of 14,702.89.

The Gold Index is one of the few bright spots this morning, rising by 1.75 percent. The price of gold is approaching $1290 an ounce, after falling to around $1276 an ounce Monday morning.

Kinross Gold (K.TO) is up 1.42 percent and Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) is higher by 2.12 percent. Royal Gold (RGL.TO) is increasing by 0.52 percent and Goldcorp (G.TO) is adding by 1.58 percent. B2Gold (BTO.TO) is up by 1.19 percent and IAMGOLD (IMG.TO) is advancing by 3.17 percent. Yamana Gold (YRI.TO) is climbing by 2.47 percent and Goldgroup Mining (GGA.TO) is surging by 20 percent.

The Capped Materials Index is also up 0.23 percent, mostly due to the rise in gold prices. Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) is rising by 2.68 percent and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) is up 1.48 percent. Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) is gaining 3.07 percent and Silver Wheaton (SLW.TO) climbing by 0.99 percent.

The Diversified Metal and Mining Index is sinking by 3.86 percent. Lundin Mining (LUN.TO) is declining by 2.74 percent and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) is down 5.04 percent. First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) is falling by 8.02 percent and Teck Resources (TCK.TO) is down 3.59 percent.

The Financial Index decreasing by 1.09 percent. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) is losing by 1.46 percent and Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) is lower by 1.26 percent. National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is down 0.97 percent and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) is falling by 1.23 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is declining by 1.34 percent and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) is down by 0.68 percent.

The Capped Telecommunication Services Index is dropping by 1.09 percent. Rogers Communications (RCI-A.TO) is decreasing by 1.20 percent and TELUS Corp. (T.TO) is down 1.71 percent. Manitoba Telecom Services (MBT.TO) is also lower by 0.42 percent.

The Energy Index losing 1.00 percent. and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) is lower by 2.10 percent and Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) is decreasing by 0.69 percent. Canadian Oil Sands (COS.TO) is declining 3.33 percent and Talisman Energy (TLM.TO) is down 0.53 percent.

Suncor Energy (SU.TO) is down 1.07 percent and Encana (ECA.TO) is losing 0.91 percent. Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.TO) is declining by 0.14 percent.

The Capped Industrial Index is lower by 1.51 percent. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) is down 1.81 percent and Air Canada (AC.TO) is lower by 1.54 percent. Bombardier (BBD-B.TO) is also losing 1.07 percent.

The Health Care Index is down 0.59 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (VRX.TO) is falling by 0.81 percent and Catamaran (CCT.TO) is losing 1.33 percent.

The Capped Information Technology Index is falling by 1.60 percent. Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is sinking by 4.89 percent and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) is down 0.60 percent. Blackberry (BB.TO) is also losing 1.15 percent.

Metro (MRU.TO) is surging by 5.58 percent this morning. The company reported first quarter adjusted EPS of C$1.35, compared to C$1.11 in the previous year.

Sierra Metals (SMT.TO) is gaining 6.43 percent. The company announced that fourth quarter total tonnes processed came in at 428,859, a 10 percent increase over last year.

On the economic front, China's leading economic index continued to improve in December, data from the Conference Board showed Tuesday.

The leading index gained 1.1 percent in December, following a 0.8 percent rise in November and a 0.9 percent increase in October. The index signals turning points in the economic cycles. Five of the six components contributed positively to the index in December.

U.K. economic growth slowed more than expected in the fourth quarter due to weakness in the production and construction sectors but the economy logged its strongest growth in seven years in 2014 as a whole, preliminary data from the Office for National Statistics showed Tuesday.

Gross domestic product grew 0.5 percent sequentially, slower than the 0.7 percent expansion seen in the third quarter and a 0.6 percent rise forecast by economists. This was the slowest growth in a year but marked the eighth straight quarter of expansion.

After reporting an unexpected drop in sales of new single-family houses in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing that U.S. new home sales rebounded by more than anticipated in the month of December.

The Commerce Department said new home sales jumped 11.6 percent to an annual rate of 481,000 in December from the revised November rate of 431,000. Economists had expected new home sales to climb to a rate of 452,000 from the 438,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Annual home price growth in major metropolitan areas continued to slow in the month of November, according to a report released by Standard & Poor's on Tuesday.

The report said the annual rate of growth by the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index slowed to 4.3 percent in November from 4.5 percent in October. The slowdown matched economist estimates.

Consumer confidence has seen a substantial improvement in the month of January, according to a report released by the Conference Board on Tuesday, with the consumer confidence index jumping to its highest level in over seven years.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index surged up to 102.9 in January from an upwardly revised 93.1 in December. Economists had expected the index to climb to 96.0 from the 92.6 originally reported for the previous month.

In commodities, crude oil futures for February delivery are up $0.32 or 0.71 percent at $45.47 a barrel.

Natural gas for February is up $0.076 or 2.64 percent at $2.957 per million btu.

Gold futures for February are up $10.40 or 0.81 percent at $1,289.80 an ounce.

Silver for March is up $0.087 or 0.48 percent at $18.07 an ounce.