Equities in Canada’s largest market remain in the red by noon on Wednesday, as gains in financials were offset by a slide in energy stocks due to lower oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index eased 30.56 points to approach noon Wednesday at 16,488.68
The Canadian dollar slid 0.07 cents at 75.70 cents U.S.
Top drags on the energy sector were shares of Enbridge, down 26 cents to $45.23, and Canadian Natural Resources' drop of 74 cents, or 1.6%, to $46.86.
Eldorado Gold jumped three cents, or 2.1%, to $1.43.
Canopy Growth gained five cents to $34.85, but Kirkland Lake Gold was down $1.48, or 5%, to $28.40, after a rating cut from BMO.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is set to stay in his post when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffles his cabinet, which could be as early as this week.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.87 points to 714.98.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as energy scaled back 1%, while consumer staples and utilities each lost 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by health-care, perking 0.7%, industrials, up 0.5%, and information technology, moving up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the U.S. stayed fairly flat – notwithstanding growing gains in the Dow Jones Industrials -- as a decline in technology stocks offset strong quarterly earnings from some of the biggest U.S. companies.
The Dow surged 84.91 points to break for noon hour at 25,204.80, with Walgreens Boots Alliance outperforming.
The S&P 500 resurfaced 5.73 points to 2,814.72, as industrials rose 0.8%.
The NASDAQ doffed 8.32 points to 7,846.79
Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3% after the European Union fined Google $5 billion over antitrust abuse. Netflix fell 0.7%, slipping for the second day in a row after posting weaker-than-expected subscriber growth for the previous quarter. Amazon shares fell 0.1% after Prime Day concluded.
Tech's decline comes in the middle of the latest corporate earnings season. Morgan Stanley reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter, boosted by strong trading and investment banking revenue. The bank’s stock rose more than 3.3%.
Transports CSX gained 5.6%, and United Continental picked up 8%, after posting stronger-than-forecast profits and sales.
Wall Street has high hopes for this earnings season, with analysts expecting S&P 500 earnings to have grown by 20% in the second quarter. With just over 9% of S&P 500 companies having released their latest quarterly results, earnings have grown 22.1%.
American Express, eBay and IBM are among the companies scheduled to report earnings after the close.
U.S. housing starts fell 12% in June to a nine-month low, the Commerce Department said. The percentage drop was also the biggest since November 2016.
According to Bespoke Investment Group, it was the biggest miss relative to expectations since January 2007. The Mortgage Bankers Association said mortgage applications also fell 2.5% last week.
Homebuilding stocks fell on the back of the data, as KB Home and Lennar both fell more than 1%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury were lower, raising yields to 2.87% from Tuesday’s 2.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eked higher three cents to $68.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $1.10 at $1,226.20 U.S. an ounce.
