Stocks in Toronto gave back much of their strength from earlier this week, as uncertainty reflected in U.S. earnings worked their way into the mix Friday.
The S&P/TSX composite fell 76.41 points to approach noon at 12,389.71
The Canadian dollar slid 0.83 cents to 100.67 cents U.S.
Metals and mining stocks took the worst bruising of the morning, weighed down mostly by Thompson Creek Mines, sinking 4.8% to $2.77, and Taseko Mines, off 3.4%.
In the technology field, Open Text shares suffered a loss of 2.6% to $50.88.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission blocked BCE Inc's $3-billion takeover of Astral Media on Thursday, declaring the deal would give too much power to BCE, already the country's biggest telecoms company and owner of numerous TV and radio assets. Shares in Astral plummeted $7.22, or 15.4%, to $39.78.
Harry Winston Diamond Corp. said on Thursday it had received various indications of interest regarding a potential purchase of its luxury brand business, but said it is not in active negotiations regarding any such transaction. Winston shares tacked on 20 cents to $13.48.
Sun Life Financial said it is committed to Britain, it said Friday after the Financial Times reported it had shelved plans to sell its British division. Sun Life shares ducked back 49 cents to $24.28.
On the economic scroll, inflation advanced at the same rate in September as it did in August. Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada revealed that consumer prices rose 1.2% in the 12 months to September, powered mostly by hikes in prices for gasoline and electricity.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.02 points to 1,310.32
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down by noon. Metals and mining sank 1.6%, while information technology stocks dipped 1.3% and consumer discretionary stocks fell 1.1%.
Only real-estate issues held out against the negative tide, moving ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
A slew of weak earnings reports pressured U.S. stocks Friday. The selloff accelerated by late morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial average staggered 166.71 points, or 1.2%, to break for lunch at 13,382.20. Ironically, it comes on the 25th anniversary of "Black Monday", when the Dow lost 22% of its value in just one October day in 1987.
The S&P 500 index faded 17.52 to 1,439.82, while the Nasdaq tumbled 58.05 to 3,014.82
McDonald's and General Electric were the biggest drags on the Dow. Both companies reported earnings that fell short of forecasts.
The tech sector continued to disappoint after two tech giants, Microsoft and Google reported results that fell short of expectations. The company known as "Mr. Softee" reported sales were flat, while Google fell short of analysts' estimates on both sales and profit when it accidentally reported earnings ahead of schedule. The stocks of both companies pulled down the indexes with each dropping more than 1.5%.
Honeywell posted third-quarter profits that topped forecasts, but revenue disappointed.
Sandisk shares climbed 8%, following quarterly results late Thursday that trounced expectations
Economically speaking, the National Association of Realtors said September's existing home sales came in at an annual rate of 4.75 million. That was down from the 4.83 million pace the previous month but up 11% from the rate of sales a year earlier.
Still, the housing report was better than analysts had expected so it actually bolstered shares of home builders Toll Brothers, Hovnanian Enterprises, PulteGroup, KB Home, and Lennar, which gained between 1% and 2% in midday trading.
The price of the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained, weighing the yield down to 1.77% from Thursday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell behind 43 cents to $91.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were down $20.70 to $1,724. U.S. an ounce.
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