Stock markets in Toronto were anchored by falling oil prices and had taken a thumping by noon ET Thursday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tumbled 180.25 points, or 1.2%, to greet noon Thursday at 15,469.29
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.22 cents at 73.22 cents U.S.
In the energy field, EnCanada Corp. fell 62 cents, or 4.2%, to $14.11, and Canadian Natural Resources stumbled $1.94, or 4.3%, to $43.13.
In the financial category, Bank of Montreal subsided $3.44, or 3.5%, to $96.27, while Scotiabank docked $2.74, or 3.5%, to $74.67.
Even so, Home Capital Group, which has been feeling the bruises all week, recovered 97 cents, or 16.2%, to $6.96.
Gold stocks sank, primarily Goldcorp, which dropped 97 cents, or 4.9%, to $18.75, and Barrick Gold slipped 30 cents, or 1.3%, to $22.75.
Industrials proved one of the few beacons, as Canam Group announced a going-private transaction to a group of investors led by the Dutil family, a deal that caused the stock to climb $5.96, or 96.1%, to $12.16.
On the data front, Statistics Canada reported that weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees barely budged from January to February, coming at $968.00 in February, up 1.5% from 12 months earlier.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slouched 4.63 points to 802.04
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative by noon, as energy stocks dwindled in price 2.4%, financials were off 1.8%, and gold surrendered 1.7%.
The three gainers were industrials, improving 0.7%, consumer discretionary issues, fighting their way up 0.3%, and consumer staples, edging up 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a narrow range Thursday, in some cases, within striking distance of all-time highs, ahead of major tech company earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average subtracted 38.43 points to greet noon at 20.936.66. United Technologies and Cisco had the greatest positive impact, while Goldman Sachs and Caterpillar contributed the most to losses.
The S&P 500 lost 4.36 points to 2,383.09. Information technology was among the top S&P 500 performers in morning trade, while energy was the worst, dropping more than 1% as oil prices fell 2% on oversupply concerns.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 10.37 points to 6,035.59. Comcast, PayPal and Amazon.com were among the greatest contributors to gains in the NASDAQ
Ahead of the open, Comcast reported better-than-expected quarterly profit of 53 cents U.S. per share and revenue also above forecasts. Shares climbed nearly 4%, tracking for their best day since Feb. 3, 2016
Alphabet, Amazon.com, Intel, Microsoft, and Starbucks are among companies set to report after the closing bell.
Durable goods orders rose a less-than-expected 0.7% in March. Weekly jobless claims increased more than expected to 257,000. Pending home sales fell 0.8% in March
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were higher, weighing yields to 2.29% from Wednesday’s 2.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped $1.23 at $48.39 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices recovered $2.60 at $1,266.80 U.S. an ounce.
