12:07 PM EDT, 07/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 123 points at midday, with healthcare (+1.35%) and financials (+0.8%), the biggest gainers.

Miners is down 0.5%.

In stocks, health tech company Hamilton Thorne ( HTLZF ) is up 47% and the most actively traded on the TSX with 4.1 million shares changing hands, after it said that it would be acquired by a private equity firm.

Oil prices fell for a third-straight session early on Monday amid political uncertainty following President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw as the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate in the 2024 U.S. election and ahead of key inflation data coming this week.

Gold edged higher with the dollar mostly steady, ahead of key U.S. inflation data coming this week.

Natural gas traded higher early Monday on forecasts for hot weather in some big markets and rising export demand. Gas for August delivery was last seen up US$0.08 to US$2.21 per million British thermal units.

On the home front, market focus is on the Bank of Canada, which is expected to cut rates on Wednesday despite rising inflation risk. According to Derek Holt, Vice-President & Head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank, the BoC is the "proverbial canary in the coal mine among central bankers". To be sure, Holt noted, there were many other central banks that eased before the BoC cut in June. But along with the Swiss National Bank it was the first of the broadly defined club of majors to begin easing. Holt added: "Swiss inflation remains very low, but the BoC is the trial case, or the shock-control experiment for whether it was the right thing to do or a premature declaration of victory over inflation. Canadian core inflation has since bounced sharply higher for the past two months after a brief four month soft patch, thereby adding to the debate alongside persistent upside risks to inflation."

South of the border, Holt said, the focus will be upon the degree to which the US economy is slowing and core inflation is ebbing which may set up easing by the Federal Reserve. He added: "The Fed is no doubt watching the international experience including Canada's with some consternation. So are markets as they continue to drive a considerably cheaper US front-end than in Canada where the latter is priced for perfection that may disappoint."

Added focal points will include the intensification of the US earnings season, US Presidential Election-watch, a pair of regional central bank decisions (Turkey, Russia), global purchasing managers and several other global macro readings, Holt noted in his 'The Global Week Ahead' note.

Meanwhile, Rosenberg Research in its 'Early Morning with Dave' note, said there had "not really been a perceptible market impact" from Joe Biden's announcement that he will be stepping down from his re-election campaign while throwing his support behind Vice President Harris. It also noted that she is the front runner but not yet the official candidate. "Investors were, for the most part, already anticipating this, and while the Democrats will undoubtedly get a boost in the polls, the dial hasn't really spun all that much," the note added.