Toronto stocks closed on the upside Monday, mostly with the support of energy and financial stocks, while earnings pessimism took the wind out of the sails of U.S. markets.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite finished the day ahead by 64.34 points or 0.77% to 8414.8, while the TSX Venture Exchange closed down 18.34 points or 1.17% to 1543.30. In New York, the Dow industrials gave up 45.72 points or 0.45% to 10113.38 while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were essentially flat. The S&P 500 closed down 0.49 to 1100.9, while the Nasdaq was up 0.68 of a point to 1883.83.

The Canadian dollar carried on where it left off Friday, adding 0.12 of a cent to close at US76.46¢.

On Bay Street, energy stocks were up 1.52% as a whole as the price of oil remained above US$41 a barrel. The price of light, sweet crude for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 24¢ to US$41.54 a barrel.

Financial stocks were up 1.44%, with CIBC and Sun Life Financial among the most active. Sun Life named a new president of its Canadian operations to succeed Robert Astley, who was retiring after helping lead the merger of Sun Life and his former company, Clarica Life two years ago.

Health care stocks were off 3.15%

Shares in brewer Molson jumped 85¢ to $33.45 as more than 1.5 million shares traded. The stock was fueled by reports of a possible merger with American brewing giant Adolph Coors. The Wall Street Journal reported there are several hurdles in front of a deal, including a feud among Molson family members.

On Wall Street, the disappointment over the outlook for some blue chips stocks, including 3M, as well as investor jitters over the direction of oil prices made for choppy trading.
Traders suggested the market may also be adopting a wait-and-see mode ahead of potentially key remarks from Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan in congressional testimony. Greenspan is due to address the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday and the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. Investors will be dissecting his comments for any clues on the future scope of interest rate rises.