A taxi across Bay Street in Toronto's financial district in Toronto in 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
November 26, 2013 - 5:20 AM
TORONTO - The Toronto stock market headed for a slightly lower open Tuesday amid rising oil prices and major dealmaking in the sports business.
The National Hockey League has reached a 12-year, $5.2-billion agreement with Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) for the league’s broadcast and multimedia rights. The league says the deal gives Rogers national rights to all NHL games, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Stanley Cup Final, on all of its platforms in all languages.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.18 of a cent to 94.98 cents US.
U.S. futures were slightly higher while traders looked ahead to U.S. housing and consumer confidence data coming out later in the morning.
The Dow Jones industrial futures were ahead five points to 16,067, after hitting yet another record high on Monday. The Nasdaq futures gained 2.3 points to 3,431.3 after the index crossed the 4,000-mark Monday for the first time since September, 2000 and the S&P 500 futures added one point to 1,803.
Economists expect that U.S. housing starts likely came in at an annualized rate of 900,000 during September, up from 891,000 in August. October starts were to be released Tuesday but the partial U.S. government shutdown during that month has delayed that until Dec. 18.
"After a brief setback due to higher mortgage rates, housing starts likely trended higher in recent months amid still-healthy affordability," said BMO Capital Markets senior economist Sal Guatieri. He also noted that housing sales have slowed recently and homebuilders reported further slippage in November.
The U.S. Conference Board issues its latest consumer confidence index mid-morning. Economists expect a pickup in confidence with the index rising to 72.4 in November from 71.2 in October as consumers benefit from new highs in U.S. equity markets and lower gasoline prices.
Investors also continued to digest Iran’s deal with western governments on nuclear development reached over the weekend.
Markets had a tepid response to the deal Monday. Oil prices had initially fallen sharply even though the agreement does not loosen sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, but ended the session down 75 cents.
On Tuesday morning, the January contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 27 cents to US$94.36 a barrel.
December copper was down a cent to US$3.22 a pound while December bullion gained $5.50 to US$1,246.70 an ounce.
European bourses were mixed as London's FTSE 100 index declined 0.4 per cent, Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.09 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 slipped 0.09 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.7 per cent lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged, China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.1 per cent.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013