Daily Wrap-up: TSX closes higher despite dip for commodities

TSX closes higher despite dip for commodities... Kinder Morgan deal could be risky say experts... Desjardins to sell Western Financial...

Daily Wrap-up: TSX closes higher despite dip for commodities
Steve Randall
TSX closes higher despite dip for commodities
The recent gains for gold and oil snapped Friday as US retail figures boosted the greenback which hit commodities. Even so, the main index of the TSX gained as consumer staples and materials led 9 sectors higher with healthcare the outlier.

Wall Street closed mixed with the Dow closing flat while the S&P500 and Nasdaq gained. European indexes closed higher as corporate results boosted stocks; Asian bourses were mixed following weak Chinese data.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 79.12 (0.51 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed down 5.41 (0.03 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $55.53, WTI $52.48 at 4.25pm)
Gold is trending lower (1197.80 at 4.25pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7618
 
Kinder Morgan deal could be risky say experts
A new deal has been agreed between the British Columbia premier and a US pipeline firm which experts say sets a new precedent.

Christy Clark has reached agreement with Texas firm Kinder Morgan which allows the firm to expand its Trans Mountain pipeline in return for payments of between $25 million and $50 million per year for two decades.

While it brings in large revenues for the province, experts say that it could mean more similar deals from both sides. That could mean Donald Trump only agreeing to approve TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline if there are annual payments for crossing US territory.

“We have not seen a situation in the past where a company actually pays a government for crossing through their territory to deliver goods to market,” Werner Antweiler, an economics professor with the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, told the Globe and Mail.
 
Desjardins to sell Western Financial
Desjardins is selling its Western Financial insurance brokerage according to Reuters.

The deal, which could be worth as much as $500 million, which would mean a $47 million return on the price Desjardins acquired the firm for 6 years ago. The potential buyer has not been named.

The financial group sold the pet insurance unit of Western Financial earlier this month to Economical Mutual.
 

LATEST NEWS