Canadian Stocks Eke Out Modest Early Gains -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are modestly higher Monday afternoon, with last week's impressive U.S. jobs data continuing to aiding sentiment.

Although the upbeat employment data has raised speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will start hiking rates possibly from Spring next year, investors are picking up stocks, following a more than 1.5 percent drop in prices last week.

However, the upside is limited due to some weak economic data out of euro zone.

Financial and industrial stocks are among the notable gainers. Energy and mining stocks are turning in a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 40.76 points or 0.26 percent at 14,830.54, after rising to 14,878.67 earlier.

On Friday, the index ended up 29.14 points or 0.20 percent at 14,789.78, after scaling a intraday high of 14,875.01 on upbeat U.S. jobs data.

Despite Friday's gains, the index lost more than 1.5 percent last week.

The Financial Index is up 0.86 percent, with the big six banks gaining 0.6 to 1 percent.

Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited (FFH.TO) is moving up 1.2 percent, Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF.TO) is up nearly 1 percent and Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) is advancing nearly 0.5 percent.

The Healthcare Index is down 0.6 percent. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (VRX.TO) is declining 1.2 percent and Catamaran Corporation (CCT.TO) is down 1.4 percent, while Extendicare Inc. (ECE.TO) is up in positive territory, gaining 0.5 percent.

The Telecommunication Index is up 0.6 percent with BCE Inc. (BCE.TO), TELUS Corporation (T.TO) and Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI.B.TO) are up 0.7 to 1 percent.

The Energy Index is down 0.37 percent. Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE.TO), Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) and Husky Energy Inc. (HSE.TO) are declining 0.4 to 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, ARC Resources (ARX.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) and Encana Corporation (ECA.TO) are up 0.4 to 1 percent.

Bankers Petroleum (BNK.TO) is rising 4.5 percent and Athabasca Oil Corporation (ATH.TO) is adding 1.6 percent

Among miners, First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN.TO), HudBay Minerals Inc. (HBM.TO), Nevsun Resources (NSU.TO), Major Drilling Group International (MDI.TO) and Capstone Mining Corporation (CS.TO) are moving up 0.5 to 1.2 percent. Meanwhile, Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) and Teck Resources (TCK.TO) are modestly higher.

B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO) is up 2 percent and Detour Gold Corporation (DGC.TO) is moving up 1 percent, while Kinross Gold Corporation (K.TO) is declining more than 1 percent.

Air Canada (AC.B.TO) is up nearly 4.5 percent after reporting a 9.2 percent growth in system wide traffic, on a system-wide capacity increase of 7.3 percent in September 2014. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger miles, was up 9.2 percent at 5.54 billion in September, compared to the prior year's 5.08 billion.

WestJet (WJA.TO) reported a load factor of 75.9 percent for the month of September. Revenue passenger miles, or traffic, increased 6.0 percent year over year, and capacity, measured in available seat miles, grew 6.8 percent over the same period. The stock is up more than 1 percent.

Superior Plus Corp. (SPB.TO) shares are down over 6 percent after the company decided that it will not proceed with the sale of construction products distribution business abd chose to continue with its previously announced business transformation project to fully integrate CPD's commercial and industrial insulation and gypsum specialty distribution operations which had been placed on hold during the strategic review of CPD.

Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (PNC.B.TO) shares are up nearly 12 percent after the company agreed to buy 175 English-language newspapers, specialty publications and digital properties from Quebecor Inc.'s Sun Media unit for C$316 million.

Open Text Corp. (OTC.TO) has announced that it has agreed to settle a patent dispute with Alfresco Software Ltd. The stock is little changed from its previous closing price.

In commodities, crude oil futures for November delivery are down $0.22 or 0.25 percent at $89.52 an ounce.

Natural gas for November is down $0.120 or 2.98 percent at $3.919 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are up $9.50 or 0.82 percent at $1,202.40 an ounce.

Silver for December is up $0.284 or 1.70 percent at $17.110 an ounce. Meanwhile, copper is up $0.041 or 1.40 percent at $3.040 per pound.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will chair the meeting of Financial Stability Oversight Council with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and others in Washington at 3 pm ET.

At 8:30 pm ET, Kansas City Fed President Esther George is scheduled to speak on the economy in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In economic news from the eurozone, investor confidence declined for the third straight month, hitting the lowest level since May 2013. The investors confidence index fell to minus 13.7 in October from minus 9.8 percent in September.