Daily Wrap-Up: TSX flat on mixed fortunes for telecoms

TSX flat on mixed fortunes for telecoms... Banks must cooperate to tackle cyber risk says BoC... Sears Canada could be heading for failure...

Daily Wrap-Up: TSX flat on mixed fortunes for telecoms
Steve Randall
TSX flat on mixed fortunes for telecoms
The telecoms sector saw a jump and then a slump Tuesday. The jump followed news that Shaw is selling its US data centre operations for around C$2.3 billion and investing some of that into expanding its Canadian wireless business.

The slump followed comments from the outgoing head of the CRTC that the regulator may need to play a more active part in shaking up competition in the wireless sector.

Telecoms ended the session as the weakest sector group, down 0.80 per cent while energy led gains for 4 sectors including financials. The overall index closed flat.

Wall Street closed higher with the Nasdaq posting gains after recent weak sessions. European indexes were largely positive except London; most Asian indexes closed higher.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 4.05 (0.03 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed up 92.40 (0.80 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $48.26, WTI $45.96 at 5.05pm)
Gold is trending lower (1268.50 at 5.05pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7553

Banks must cooperate to tackle cyber risk says BoC
The Bank of Canada has urged the big banks to work together to tackle the risk of cyber-attacks.

The central bank says that the interconnectivity of the banks could mean a cascading attack which would damage confidence in the financial system. This risk is a systemic vulnerability which is not likely to go away the bank warned.

"A prolonged interruption in financial services, compromised data integrity or a loss of confidence could harm the financial system with knock-on effects to the real economy," the bank’s financial review warned.

Sears Canada could be heading for failure
Sears Canada could be facing insolvency with the company unsure that it will have enough funds to meet its obligations over the next 12 months.

The retailer said in a statement that it was struggling to recover from losses in the last five fiscal years and has tried to revive its fortunes.

However the statement said: “While the company’s plans have demonstrated early successes, notably in same-store sales, the ability of the company to continue as a going concern is dependent on the company’s ability to obtain additional sources of liquidity in order to implement its business plan.”

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