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10:17 a.m.

Markets open: Stocks take breather from meltup

Stocks edged lower after hitting overbought levels in a rally that sent the market toward one of its biggest meltups over the last 100 years.

The S&P 500 pulled back after notching a four-week advance. Wall Street’s “fear gauge” — the VIX — halted a slide that drove the equity-volatility gauge to its lowest since 2020. Cryptocurrency-linked shares dropped as Bitcoin slid. Traders will keep a close eye on retailers as Cyber Monday kicked off. Gold topped US$2,000 as the U.S. dollar continued to weaken. Bond yields fell.

“The technical backdrop in the stock market right now is critically important,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “This does not mean that we’re about to see an important top in the stock market. It could just mean that we’ll see a mild pullback or even a ‘sideways’ correction at some point in the next week or two to work off this overbought condition.”

Bets that policymakers are done with the rate-hiking cycle have fuelled a four-week, 11 per cent S&P 500 rally, pushing short-term volatility expectations to levels last seen in November 2021. While some used the opportunity to buy protection on the cheap, it’s been far from ubiquitous, and calls saying the market environment is getting too placid are on the rise.

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On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was down 0.14 per cent at 4,552.66. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.14 per cent 35,341.87 while the Nasdaq composite was down 0.05 per cent at 14,243.44.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.12 per cent at 20,078.66.

Bloomberg

9:44 a.m.

Suncor restarts production at Terra Nova after work to extend life of project

Suncor Energy Inc. says it has restarted production at its Terra Nova production, storage and off-loading vessel.

The company says the restart comes after finishing work to extend the life of the project.

Production is expected to ramp up over the coming months.

Suncor chief executive Rich Kruger says the project will provide additional cash flow for shareholders as well as benefits to the Newfoundland and Labrador and Canadian economies.

Terra Nova is an oilfield located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador about 350 kilometres southeast of St. John’s.

Suncor holds a 48 per cent stake in the project, while Cenovus Energy Inc. owns a 34 per cent stake and Murphy Oil Corp. holds 18 per cent.

The Canadian Press

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9 a.m.

Air Transat flight attendants OK strike mandate

The union representing 2,100 flight attendants at Air Transat says workers have voted to approve a strike if they cannot reach a new contract with the airline.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees says the flight attendants voted 99.8 per cent in favour of backing the mandate.

Dominic Levasseur, president of the Air Transat component of CUPE, said the next few weeks of negotiations will be critical.

Levasseur said it’s still possible to reach a new contract without resorting to a strike, but the union’s members have high expectations and are extremely motivated.

The collective agreement for the flight attendants based at airports in Montreal and Toronto expired on Oct. 31, 2022.

Air Transat is owned by travel company Transat AT Inc.

The Canadian Press

7:30 a.m.

PwC cuts 2% of Canadian workforce as economy slows

PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd., the global accounting firm, has cut its workforce in Canada by two per cent as sustained high interest rates push the nation’s economy toward a recession.

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A spokeswoman for PwC confirmed the reduction, reported earlier by the Globe and Mail newspaper, without giving further details of the layoffs. With the company’s website saying it employs about 7,700 people in Canada, the cut would amount to about 150 people.

The Canadian economy looks to have entered a technical recession this year as the Bank of Canada holds interest rates at multi-decade highs to combat inflation.

Preliminary data show output contracted 0.1 per cent in the third quarter after registering a 0.2 per cent decline in the previous three months, meeting the two-consecutive quarters of slowing activity needed to qualify as a recession.

Bloomberg

Before the opening bell

Stocks fell and gold climbed to a six-month high as data showed a sharp slowdown in China’s industrial profits, which reinforced investor concerns about its sluggish economy.

The Stoxx 600 index fell 0.3 per cent and Nasdaq futures retreated 0.2 per cent. Treasury 10-year yields climbed as much as five basis points to 4.51 per cent, the highest in more than a week. Gold climbed to the highest since May, while the dollar was little changed.

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In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed down slightly, falling 13.55 points to 20,103.11.

Bloomberg

What to watch today

Today is Cyber Monday, with retailers promising more promotions and deals after Black Friday to draw sales.

The First Nations Climate Initiative is hosting a briefing to coincide with the release of its independent study, Western Canadian Gas Exports: Opportunities and Risks in a Low Carbon World.

We’ll also get data on new United States home sales for October.

Need a refresher on Friday’s top headlines? Get caught up here.

Additional reporting by The Canadian Press, Associated Press and Bloomberg

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