Stocks in Canada’s largest centre fell on Wednesday as lower metal and oil prices weighed on resource stocks, offsetting gains for financials after Royal Bank of Canada reported better-than-expected earnings.
The S&P/TSX Composite dumped 61.79 points to greet noon at 14,702.98
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.22 at 77.22 cents U.S.
Copper prices fell to eight-week lows as rising inventories in Asian warehouses fueled fears about weaker demand to come in top consumer China, while spot gold fell 0.9 percent ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday which will be closely watched for further clues on U.S. interest rate policy.
Barrick Gold Corp fell 5.7% to $24.46, while Silver Wheaton was down nearly 5% at $34.99.
Financials rose, led by banks stocks after forecast-beating earnings from Bank of Montreal on Tuesday and Royal Bank of Canada on Wednesday.
Royal reported slightly higher-than-expected quarterly results after rising oil prices allowed it to set aside less money to cover energy companies' bad loans.
RBC shares rose 0.1% to $82.31, while Bank of Nova Scotia gained 1.2% to $68.13.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 14.13 points to 803.66
The 12 subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers, health-care leading the former camp, up 2.9%, consumer staples gaining 0.5%, and information technology, up 0.2%.
The half-dozen laggards were hampered mostly by gold, down 4.1%, materials, sinking 3.4%, and energy, falling 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower on Wednesday while investors eagerly awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
The Dow Jones Industrials remained negative 30.14 points to break for lunch at 18,517.16, with IBM and Home Depot contributing the most to losses.
The S&P 500 slid 3.55 points to 2,183.35
The NASDAQ Composite dipped 6.7 points to 5,253.38
In corporate news, RBC reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with funds set aside to cover bad loans falling thanks to higher oil prices.
La-Z-Boy reported a 1.9% drop in same-store sales for its fiscal first quarter. The firm also posted adjusted earnings of 28 cents a share on revenue of $341 million U.S, missing expectations. La-Z-Boy shares fell more than 11% in late-morning trade.
Meanwhile, Nimble Storage shares fell nearly 1% after releasing quarterly results.
Investors also watched oil markets, with U.S. crude falling more than 2.2% in after the Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 2.5 million barrels.
Economically speaking, existing home sales for July fell 3.2%, more than expected. New home sales data, released Tuesday, reached their highest level in almost nine years.
Yellen is scheduled to speak on the U.S. economy and monetary policy Friday against a backdrop of recent hawkish rhetoric from two of her top lieutenants, New York Fed President William Dudley and Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury regained lost ground, lowering yields to Tuesday’s 1.55%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.37 a barrel to $46.73 U.S.
Gold prices fell $16.70 at $1,329.40 U.S. an ounce.
