Daily Wrap-up: TSX gains with oil, materials

TSX gains with oil, materials... Federal deficit to exceed government forecasts says TD... Canadian executives not transparent enough on stock options...

Steve Randall
TSX gains with oil, materials
Thursday brought gains for half of the sectors of the TSX with energy and materials leading as oil and gold prices gained. Oil was boosted by larger draws for petroleum products but crude stockpiles and doubt over the output cap subdued gains to 26 cents.

Utilities, consumer staples and telecoms also gained while IT and healthcare were the session’s biggest laggards.

Wall Street indexes closed lower but rallied from their earlier losses as oil gained. Chinese data was the biggest drag on European and Asian markets with imports and exports declining.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 24.74 (0.17 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed down 45.26 (0.25 per cent)
Oil is trending higher (Brent $51.95, WTI $50.54 at 5.10pm)
Gold is trending higher (1259.40 at 5.10pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7573
 
Federal deficit to exceed government forecasts says TD
Economists at TD Bank estimate that the federal deficit will be around $5 billion greater for this year than Ottawa’s $29.4 billion outlook and will continue to run at a higher level than predicted for the next 5 years.

“The economic situation in Canada has deteriorated since budget 2016, impacted not just by wildfires but also by serially disappointing underlying momentum,” wrote TD chief economist Beata Caranci.

Revised government projections will be published in the weeks ahead following finance minister Bill Morneau’s meeting with economists Thursday.
 
Canadian executives not transparent enough on stock options
Some Canadian executives do not fully disclose their stock options publicly according to a study by Professor Lindsay Tedds at University of Victoria.

His research of stock option awards between 1996 and 2011 show that 12 per cent were not disclosed, 30 per cent were late and 34 per cent contained errors.

The disclosures are key components of the system that is designed to pick up insider trading and were updated in 2003 when the System for Electronic Disclosure by Insiders (SEDI) replaced paper filings.

Professor Tedds’ research shows that non-disclosures improved under the SEDI system but errors increased.
 

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