Daily Wrap-Up: Energy, materials gain but TSX closes lower

Energy, materials gain but TSX closes lower... Toronto home sales fall as inventory slips to 2 months... Tim Hortons franchisees not given chance to speak at meeting...

Daily Wrap-Up: Energy, materials gain but TSX closes lower
Steve Randall
Energy, materials gain but TSX closes lower
The energy and materials sector groups of the main TSX managed slim gains along with telecoms and utilities Monday but equity markets worldwide were subdued.

Oil prices, which had gained overnight amid the removal of diplomatic relations between 6 Arab nations and Qatar, eased during the session and ended more than 1 per cent lower.

Gold prices gained as markets continued to react to weaker-than-expected US jobs data released Friday.

The overall S&P/TSX Composite Index closed lower as 6 sectors posted losses led by a 1.2 per cent drop for healthcare with weak performance for Valeant Pharmaceuticals with a shareholders’ class action looming.

Wall Street was also lower along with European and Asian indexes.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 32.97 (0.21 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed down 22.25 (0.10 per cent)
Oil is trending higher (Brent $49.43, WTI $47.35 at 4.40pm)
Gold is trending lower (1281.60 at 4.40pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7421

Toronto home sales fall as inventory slips to 2 months
Home sales fell sharply in Toronto last month with a 20.3 per cent drop year-over-year amid less than 2 months of available homes.

Toronto Real Estate Board reported that that was a slight increase in inventory from the first four months of 2017 but the pressured market added almost 15 per cent to the average selling price which reached $863,910.

TREB’s director of market analysis Jason Mercer says that the new provincial housing plan may have played a part but the impact is not yet clear.

“The actual, or normalized, effect of the Ontario Fair Housing Plan remains to be seen. In the past, some housing policy changes have initially led to an overreaction on the part of homeowners and buyers, which later balanced out,” he said.

Tim Hortons franchisees not given chance to speak at meeting
Frustrated Tim Hortons franchisees say they were not able to discuss their frustrations at the parent company’s annual meeting.

Restaurant Brands International Inc. held its meeting Monday but at the end of the presentations from executives, there was no question and answer session which had been expected.

“I’m astounded,” said John James (J.J.) Hoey, a franchisee in Mississauga, Ont. and an organizer of the Great White North Franchisee Association told The Globe and Mail.

CEO Daniel Schwartz later said that the company is always willing to talk to its restaurant owners and has a constant dialogue with them.

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