Equities recovered from an early swoon Tuesday, even as disappointing economic data and soft commodity prices weighed on the financial and natural resource sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index recovered 36.43 points to pause for noon at 15,013.35
The Canadian dollar moved lower 0.35 cents at 89.23 cents U.S.
Even so, the benchmark index looked on track to record its worst monthly decline since May 2012, set to lose about 4% in September.
Financials gained as Bank of Nova Scotia regained 0.7% to $69.65, and Bank of Montreal recovered 0.7% to $82.91.
The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, slumped as the prices of gold, silver and copper traded lower. First Quantum Minerals shed 1.2% to $21.45, and Potash Corp fell 0.5%, at $38.77.
In corporate news, exchange operator TMX Group on Monday named Lou Eccleston as its new chief executive officer, to replace retiring CEO Tom Kloet. The stock was down 0.5%, at $54.11.
On the economic docket, Statistics Canada reported this morning that real gross domestic product was essentially unchanged in July, following six consecutive monthly gains.
The agency says notable growth in manufacturing and the public sector was offset by significant declines in mining and oil and gas extraction as well as in utilities.
The Industrial Product Price Index increased 0.2% in August, mainly because of higher prices for motorized and recreational vehicles.
The Raw Materials Price Index declined 2.2% last month, mostly as a result of lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 3.99 points to 908.77
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were higher by midday, led by industrials, up 1.1%, financials, up 0.7%, and consumer staples, ahead 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed by gold, sinking 1%, materials, slumping 0.7%, and information technology, sliding 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks pulled out of a Tuesday morning gully by noon ET, even as weaker-than-expected housing data weighed on investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered 45.85 points to greet noon at 17,117.07
The S&P 500 moved higher 2.61 points to 1,980.41. The NASDAQ regained 7.80 points to 4,513.65.
Move leapt 37% after News Corp. said it would buy the online real-estate business in an all-cash deal for $21 U.S. a share.
EBay shares leapt 7.7% after the firm announced plans to spin off PayPal in a transaction expected to be completed in the second half of 2015.
Ford shares were under pressure after cutting its full-year earnings outlook on expectations it will lose $1.2 billion U.S. in Europe this year.
Walgreen shares were slightly off after the drug-store chain reported quarterly profit and sales that matched expectations on Tuesday.
Supervalu shares fell 1.8% after it found more data-capturing malware at stores on Monday.
Home price data came in weaker than expected. Annual home price growth slowed down in July to the slowest pace since late 2012, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index.
Elsewhere, the U.S. consumer confidence index fell to 86.0 in September from a revised 93.4 in August, marking the first decline in five months, the Conference Board said Tuesday. Economists polled by MarketWatch had projected the index to decline to 92.3.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were unchanged early Tuesday, keeping yields at Monday’s 2.49%.
Oil prices lost $2.64 to $91.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $10.10 to $1,208.70 U.S. an ounce.
