Canadian stocks moved down, amid concern that offshore economic concerns are rattling North American markets.
The S&P/TSX Composite index faded 64.54 points to approach noon at 11,826.35
The Canadian dollar moved lower by 0.20 cents to 100.64 cents U.S.
Ensign Energy Services Inc reported a 16% rise in quarterly net profit on increased drilling in its international and U.S. markets but said it expects activity levels in North America to fall through the rest of the year. Ensign shares fell 29 cents to $15.40 by noon.
AuRico Gold Inc reported a 10% fall in profit on lower gold production. AuRico shares plummeted 40 cents, or 5.9%, to $6.35.
Pengrowth Energy Corp. posted a 65% fall in second-quarter profit on weak natural gas prices. Shares inched up five cents to $6.80.
On the corporate front, engineering company SNC-Lavalin has appointed Robert Card, a former senior executive at CH2M Hill Companies Ltd., as SNC's new chief executive. The appointment followed the resignation of Pierre Duhaime, who stepped down amid controversy over millions in mysterious payments outside Canada.
SNC-Lavalin has been feeling the fallout from investigations into $56 million worth of payments that were directed through its Tunisian office to unknown sales agents during the Ghadafi regime. SNC shares faded three cents to $37.47.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gathered 6.02 points to 1,197.02. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 7.79 points to 345.88.
All but two of the 14 subgroups were lower by noon, weighed by health-care shares, off 1.4%, while global base metals and the metals and mining group were each down 1.3%.
Real-estate proved the sole gainer, up 0.1%, while utilities stocks were unchanged at noon hour.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks tumbled Monday as concern about global growth weighed on the market.
The Dow Jones industrial average hurtled earthward 89.01 points by noon Monday to 13,118.94.
The S&P 500 dropped 7.47 points to 1,398.40. The Nasdaq lopped off 16.36 points to 3,004.50.
Groupon is expected to report quarterly earnings of three cents a share on $573 million U.S. in revenue, according to a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
Motorola Mobility, the Google owned cellphone maker, announced it would cut 4,000 jobs, or a quarter of its workforce. The company also said it would consolidate a third of its 90 facilities. These changes come as Motorola lost money in 14 of the last 16 quarters. Shares of Google were up on the news.
Barnes & Noble announced price cuts on its Nook e-reader and tablet devices Monday, as back-to-school shopping gets under way and amid speculation that Amazon will introduce a new version of its Kindle Fire. The company said price cuts will fall between $20 to $50 U.S.
Shares of Manchester United briefly fell below $14 U.S. a share -- the initial offering price for the British "football" club's U.S. stock in its market debut Friday.
Shares of J.C. Penney fell more than 3% as investors reevaluated the company's latest results. The retailer reported a loss on Friday but the stock rose that day due to optimistic comments from CEO Ron Johnson.
Investors were also digesting this weekend's announcement that Republican Mitt Romney has selected Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate in this year's presidential election.
Stocks have been trading in a narrow range for the past few weeks as many investors have moved to the sidelines amid an uncertain outlook.
Investors are debating whether the U.S. economy is weak enough to warrant additional stimulus from the Federal Reserve, according to many experts.
Hopes for a third round of asset purchases by the Fed have been a key driver of the stock market's gains this year. But last month's better-than-expected jobs report raised questions about whether the central bank will need to take further action, said those same experts.
Meanwhile, investors remain concerned about the debt problems in Europe.
The Greek economy, which has been in recession for years, shrank 6.2% in the second quarter, according to preliminary government estimates released Monday.
The European Union's statistics office will release preliminary data on Tuesday about gross domestic product for the second quarter. Economists expect that economic activity across the 17-nation euro area declined from the first quarter.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, pushing the yield down to 1.63% from 1.65% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for September delivery fell 42 cents to $92.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery added 30 cents to $1,623.10 U.S. an ounce
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