Equities in Canada’s largest market fell on Wednesday as U.S. and Canadian data added to concerns about the growth outlook and a wildfire reduced production in the country's oil sands region.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gave up early gains and tumbled 90.56 points to greet noon at 13,617.12
The Canadian dollar slid 0.96 cents to 77.63 cents U.S.
Banks weighed on the markets as Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1.1% to $62.73, and Royal Bank, which fell 0.8% to $75.60.
Among materials stocks, Barrick Gold fell 2.3% to $22.79, while Goldcorp went south 2.4% at $23.74.
Shares of Maple Leaf Foods Inc jumped 6.6% to $27.98 after the meat processor reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher earnings in its prepared meats business.
Among other stocks that advanced, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International rose 1.5% to $46.22, while Agrium was up 3.4% at $111.56.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that our exports fell 4.8% to $41 billion in March, while our imports dipped 2.4% to $44.4 billion. As a result, Canada’s trade deficit with the rest of the world widened from $2.5 billion in February to a record $3.4 billion in March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 8.8 points to 653.57
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups moved down as the gold and metals and mining sectors each slid 3.1%, while materials eased 1.9%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, progressing 1.2%, telecoms, up 0.7%, and real-estate, ahead 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower Wednesday, with energy among the decliners, amid mixed data.
The Dow Jones Industrials shed 82.7 points to 17,668.21, with United Technologies leading decliners and McDonald's the top gainer. The stock hit an all-time high in intraday trade.
The S&P 500 let go of 12.29 points to 2,051.08. Energy held more than 1% lower as one of the greatest laggards in the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ Composite Index jettisoned 28.33 points to 4,734.89, within 0.5% of falling back into correction territory, or more than 10% below its 52-week intraday high.
On the economic slate, the Institute for Supply Management’s non-manufacturing sector for April was 55.7, above expectations and rising from March's 54.5 print.
The final April read on Markit services Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 52.8 from 51.3 in March.
Factory orders rose 1.1%. Moreover, the March U.S. trade deficit was $40.4 billion. First quarter productivity declined at an annual rate of 1%.
Ahead of the highly anticipated non-farm payrolls report due Friday, the ADP employment report for April missed expectations with a decline from the prior month to 156,000.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury recouped lost ground, lowering yields to 1.79% from Tuesday’s 1.8%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices stayed positive 10 cents a barrel to $43.75 U.S.
Gold prices dipped $6.74 to $1,279.76 U.S. an ounce.
