North American stock markets had a short, sharp shock early afternoon Tuesday after hackers compromised the main Twitter account of The Associated Press news agency.
An erroneous tweet went out around 1 p.m. ET, saying that there had been two explosions at the White House and President Barack Obama was injured. The tweet sent the Dow Jones Industrials plunging before quickly bouncing back up after it became apparent the story was false.
The effect on the Toronto stock market was much more muted, with the main index falling about 30 points before recovering somewhat to earlier levels.
The S&P/TSX index moved higher by only 0.26 points to finish Tuesday at 12,090.94
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.07 cents at 97.43 cents U.S.
The market was also pressured by earnings reports with traders expressing disappointment with Teck Resources and Rogers Communications.
Teck posted an adjusted profit of $328 million, or 56 cents per share, in the first quarter, down from $544 million, or 93 cents per share, in the same period last year. That beat analyst estimates of 37 cents a share.
Teck also said it achieved all-time record first quarter coal sales of 6.6 million tonnes despite relatively weak market conditions and repairs at Westshore terminals which continued into early February but its shares fell 41 cents to $25.60.
The energy sector was slightly lower as Canadian Natural Resources dropped 47 cents to $29.52
Encana reported a $431-million U.S. net loss, or 59 cents per share, and $179 million or 24 cents per share of operating earnings in the three months ended March 31. The consensus estimate had been for nine cents per share of operating income, according to Thomson Reuters. Its shares slipped 33 cents to $18.96.
The gold sector led decliners as bullion continued to lose its appeal with the component down 25% this month alone. The gold sector lost ground as Goldcorp faded 88 cents to $28.44.
Telecoms were also weak as Rogers Communications gave back $1.80 to $50.28.
Rogers said after the markets closed Monday that quarterly net income rose 15% to $414 million. Earnings ex-items were 80 cents a share, three cents better than expected. However, revenue missed, coming in at $2.94 billion, less than the $3.06 billion that analysts expected. Also, 32,000 postpaid subscribers signed up in the quarter in its wireless division, compared with 47,000 a year earlier.
The tech sector led advancers as Celestica Inc. reported it had 16 cents per share of adjusted earnings, or $30 million U.S., in the first quarter. That’s down from a year earlier and a penny short of analyst estimates but at the high end of the contract manufacturing company’s own guidance.
Its revenue for the three months ended March 31 was $1.37 billion U.S., down about 19% from the same time last year due to the loss of work for Research In Motion, now called BlackBerry. Celestica’s shares rose 47 cents, or 6%, to $8.30.
On the economic ledger, Statistics Canada reported this morning that retail sales in this country rose 0.8% to $39.5 billion in February, running their monthly win streak to two. After removing the effects of price changes, especially hikes in gasoline prices, retail sales in volume terms were flat.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 3.40 points to 940.95
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups finished the day in higher ground, led by information technology stocks, heading 1.6% higher, health-care, haler by 0.7%, and real-estate, up 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed mostly by gold, down 2%, materials, down 1.2%, and telecoms, off 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks pushed higher Tuesday, after briefly tanking following a fake Associated Press tweet said there were explosions at the White House.
The Dow Jones Industrials ended the day ahead 152.29 points, or 1.1%, to 14,719.50
The S&P 500 index gained 16.66 points to 1,579.16. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite moved higher by 35.78 points to 3,269.33
Shares of heavily shorted Netflix surged 24% Tuesday, after the streaming video service reported strong subscriber gains on Monday.
Travelers Companies helped lift the Dow, with shares climbing more than 2% after the insurer reported a rise in profits.
Shares of Coach jumped 11% after the upscale retailer posted better-than-expected sales and earnings.
Airlines have been on the news this week due to concerns about flight delays at airports resulting from the federal government's forced budget cuts. But Delta Air Lines Inc. and US Airways shares rose more than 4% after both airlines reported first-quarter profits.
Apple headlines the list of companies reporting after the close, and it will be looking to reverse a slide that has dropped its stock roughly 45% since September.
AT&T is also set to report in the afternoon, and analysts will be keeping an eye on iPhone sales. Last week, Verizon reported that iPhone sales tumbled 33% in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of 2012.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Census Bureau said new home sales rose 1.5% in March to an annual rate of 417,000, just above economists' forecasts.
The report boosted shares of several home builders, including Lennar Corp., PulteGroup and Toll Brothers.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury regained lost ground, lowering yields back to Monday’s 1.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices forged up nine cents to $89.28 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $9.70 to $1,411.50 U.S. an ounce
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