Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto stock market backtracked somewhat in the final minutes of trading, but still closed with a solid gain as investors balanced conflicting economic reports.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 69.17 points to 11,782.60 on the first day of trading in August – often a slow month with low trading volumes.

The move higher followed a gain of about 2% on all the major U.S. stock indexes Monday amid better-than-expected U.S. and European manufacturing data for July, strong earnings from European banks and news that China isn’t likely to take steps to slow its economy. The TSX was closed Monday.

Toronto’s gain on Tuesday was tempered by disappointing data on personal spending and incomes out of the U.S. and anticipation of employment numbers from both sides of the border later this week.

“Every day we seem to get new information that suggests either slightly stronger growth or slightly weaker growth, so the volatility is up much more than we would expect otherwise,” said Kate Warne, Canadian markets specialist at Edward Jones in St. Louis.

But “people are waiting for the jobs report, so the older economic news in the U.S., unless it’s way different than what’s expected, may not have as much impact over the next few days as it would at some other time,” she added.

Stronger commodity prices also gave the TSX a boost on Tuesday.

The September crude oil contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange added $1.21 to close at US$82.55 a barrel. The price of oil has gained more than 4.5% so far this week. The Toronto energy sector gained 1.3% as shares in Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) added 82 cents to $34.71.

The base metals sector was the biggest gainer, adding 3% following a 2% jump in the price of copper on Monday. On Tuesday, the September copper contract on the Nymex lost 3.1 cents to close at US$3.36 a pound.

Shares in HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) gained seven cents to $12.89.

The December bullion contract climbed by $2.10 to close at US$1,187.50 an ounce. Gold stocks gained 0.2% as shares in Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) were up 20 cents to $42.46.

Financial stocks were flat. Shares in CIBC (TSX:CM) edged up 15 cents to $70.75.

The Canadian dollar added 0.42 of a cent to 97.67 cents US, while the TSX Venture Exchange gained 13.72 points to 1,441.08. In New York, stocks dipped as big gains Monday were followed by a batch of mostly disappointing earnings as well as news that the pace of consumer spending stalled in June.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 38 points to 10,636.38, while the Nasdaq composite index was down 11.84 points at 2,283.52. The S&P 500 index fell 5.40 points to 1,120.52.

The U.S. Commerce Department said personal spending was unchanged in June, the third straight month of lacklustre consumer demand. Incomes were flat as well, the weakest showing in nine months. Economists had expected both spending and income to edge higher.

News that pending U.S. home sales decreased 2.6% in June and U.S. factory orders fell 1.2% in the same month also pressured the New York indexes.

Meanwhile, consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) and chemical maker Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE:DOW) both reported profit and revenue that fell short of forecasts. Those disappointments more than offset better-than-expected results from pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE).

In Canadian corporate news, shares in Kinross Gold Corp. (TSX:K) lost $1.08 or 6.4% to $15.79 after the company said Monday it plans to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Red Back Mining Inc. (TSX:RBI) that it doesn’t already own in a deal valued at US$7.1 billion. Shares in Red Back jumped $1.43 or 5.5% to $27.45.

Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM) stock added eight cents to $17.63 after BP announced it has agreed to sell its oil and gas exploration business in Colombia for US$1.9 billion to a consortium involving Talisman and Colombia’s national oil company.

Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) shares lost $2.38 or 4% to $56.77 after the new BlackBerry Torch, designed to better compete with Apple’s iPhone, was revealed at a press conference in New York. RIM is also contending with a ban on email, messaging and web browsing on its smartphones by the United Arab Emirates.

And Molson Coors Brewing Co. said its Canadian beer sales were up but worldwide volume fell in the second quarter as consumers in many markets continued to limit their spending. The maker of Coors Light and Carling (TSX:TPX.B) posted net income of US$237.8 million, up 27% from a year earlier. Shares in Molson Coors added $1 or 2.2% to $47.50.