Canadian stocks caught the jitters created by international developments regarding debt problems, and found themselves on the downside as noon ET rolled around.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index swooned 134.03 points, or 1.2% to break for lunch at 11,410.61
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.17 cents at 97.88 cents U.S.
Among the poorest performing commodity companies were Class A shares of Calvalley Petroleum, falling 15.7% and Second Wave Petroleum, losing 4.7%.
Corus Entertainment shares fell as much as 6% after the television and radio broadcaster posted a fiscal third-quarter profit of $0.51 a share, up from $0.49, a year ago.
However, the company's revenues fell to $204.1 million from $211.8 million and it warned it would have a hard time meeting earlier full-year profit targets.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said the May new housing price index rose 0.3%, following a 0.2% increase in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 24.12 points to 1,169.67. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 3.67 points to 339.98.
All 14 Toronto subgroups were still down at midday, with metals and mining stocks tailing off 3.5%, global base metals erasing 2.4%, while materials skidded 2.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell Thursday as fears about a global economic slowdown weighed on the market.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 37.16 points to approach noon at 12,567.37
The S&P 500 doffed 8.13 points to 1,333.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 29.64 points to 2,858.34.
Groupon shares hit a fresh 52-week low as investors continue to fret about the health of the online deals site.
Shares of Merck jumped after the pharmaceutical giant's osteoporosis drug Odanacatib showed positive results in the lab. The results caused outside observers to suggest that the company stop the study early.
Shares of India-based technology company Infosys fell sharply after it lowered its full-year profit outlook.
United Continental announced plans to buy 150 planes from Boeing over the next several years. The airlines did not specify how much the order is worth, but reports valued the deal at $9 billion U.S.
Investors shrugged off a decline in the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits filed in the holiday-shortened week ended July 7.
They are worried that European leaders won't be able to make good on their most recent pledge to get a permanent bailout fund in place. And Wednesday's minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting -- which showed the central bank was wary of announcing any new stimulus measures anytime soon -- is adding to the pessimism.
Concerns about the euro-zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, weighed on European stocks.
Implementation of the fund won't be quick, and a German high court's decision about whether that country's involvement violates its laws may not happen for months.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported 350,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits during the week ended July 7 -- beating expectations and reaching a four-year low. The latest numbers showed a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's 376,000.
Import prices excluding fuels dropped by 0.3% in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices have
continued to fall for most of the year so far.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Treasury Department will release its budget for June.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, pushing the yield down to 1.48% from Wednesday’s 1.50%.
Oil for August delivery drooped $1.01 to $84.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $17.20 to $1,558.00 U.S. an ounce.
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