Daily Wrap-up: TSX snaps winning streak on Valeant, Suncor declines

TSX snaps winning streak on Valeant, Suncor declines... GM could be set to announce 1,000 new Ontario jobs... Reduced condo plans mean fewer building permits... RBC expands tech hub network to Silicon Valley...

Steve Randall
TSX snaps winning streak on Valeant, Suncor declines
Healthcare and energy sectors dragged the main TSX index to its first lower finish in 5 sessions despite gains for commodities stocks.

The declines were led by Valeant’s shares continuing their fall from grace and Suncor dipping on its share sale. Raw materials producers fared better.

Wall Street’s indexes gained while the rest of the world’s markets were generally lower with Chinese trade data causing concern in Asia and Europe. Japan and the UK were the main gainers.
 
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 52.51 (0.37 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed up 66.77 (0.37 per cent)
Oil is trending higher (Brent $52.74, WTI $51.57 at 4.35pm)
Gold is trending higher (1265.00 at 4.35pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7872
 
GM could be set to announce 1,000 new Ontario jobs
General Motors could be about to create 1,000 new jobs in its Ontario plants. CBC News says that the firm appears set to make the announcement Friday. The jobs will include 300 engineering roles in Oshawa and a further 700 in a new software development centre in Markham. If the report proves to be accurate then it will bring the total number of GM employees in Canada to 10,000.
 
Reduced condo plans mean fewer building permits
The number of building permits issued dipped 0.8 per cent in April as a decline in intentions to build multi-family dwellings wiped out an increase for single-family homes.

Statistics Canada’s data shows that Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia led the declines.

Permits issued totalled $6.9 billion with the residential sector down 1.8 per cent to $4.3 billion while non-residential permits were up 2.5 per cent to $2.5 billion. Alberta led the gains for the non-residential sector.
 
RBC expands tech hub network to Silicon Valley
The Royal Bank of Canada has announced the expansion of its innovation lab network to Silicon Valley. The bank already has facilities in London, Florida, New York, Luxembourg and Toronto. The new facility will identify talent within the FinTech sector and across its facilities there is $100 million in seed funds to invest.
 

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