Equities in Canada’s largest market barely budged above breakeven on Wednesday, as worries over rising U.S. yields weighed on materials stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index came out of negative territory to gain a mere 18.63 points, and greet noon at 15,495.63
The Canadian dollar retreated 0.28 cents to 77.68 cents U.S.
The biggest drags to the index were Teck Resources, which declined 83 cents, or 2.5% to $31.93, and First Quantum Minerals, down 53 cents, or 3% to $17.20.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX was Arc Resources, up 36 cents, or 2.5%, to $14.77, while Teck was the largest decliner.
Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume was Cenovus Energy, which gained 44 cents, or 3.6%, to $12.63, after the company posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss as near-full pipelines increased transportation costs and reduced profit margins.
Shares of Katanga Mining and Aurora Cannabis were also among the most actively traded on the Canadian index.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 5.79 points to 783.45
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative midday, as health-care sidled lower 1.1%, while utilities headed south 0.6%, and real-estate doffed 0.3%.
The five gainers were led by energy, improving 0.8%, industrials, up 0.5%, and telecoms, ahead 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Wednesday, adding to losses from the previous session, as investors fretted over interest rates reaching multiyear highs.
Investors also worried that corporations may not be able to maintain their pace of earnings growth.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average came off its lows of the morning, to lose 126.76 points by noon to 23,897.37
The S&P 500 slouched 11.48 points to 2,623.09
The NASDAQ Composite index slid 64.86 points to 6,942.49
The move lower in equities is taking place despite a string of strong corporate earnings. Dow member Boeing reported earnings and revenue that easily beat expectations. Twitter posted a better-than-expected profit and revenue for the first quarter. Comcast also posted stronger-than-forecast earnings and revenue.
On Tuesday, bellwether Caterpillar posted earnings and revenue that beat expectations, but the shares fell after the company's CFO said their first-quarter results may have been the "high watermark" for the year. Those remarks helped push the market lower in the previous session.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped slightly, raising yields to 3.02% from Tuesday’s 3%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 10 cents a barrel to $67.80 U.S.
Gold prices dropped $10.40 to $1,322.60 U.S. an ounce.
