Canada's main stock index was pushed lower by noon ET on Tuesday with concerns about the crisis in Ukraine offset by positive U.S. economic data.
The S&P/TSX composite index greeted noon down 34 points to 14,250.43, after starting sharply higher.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.20 cents at 91.02 cents U.S.
In the energy sector, Suncor Energy rose 0.6% to $39.75, and Canadian Natural Resources added 1% to $43.75.
Among financials, Bank of Nova Scotia climbed 0.5% to $64.67.
Gold-mining shares reflected a selloff in the price of bullion. The sector was down, with Barrick Gold losing 1.7% to $20.29 and Goldcorp declining 2.2% to $25.95.
On the economic schedule, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales leaped 1.4% in February to $51.2 billion, the highest since July 2008, the peak reached before the last recession began.
According to figures released this morning by the Canadian Real Estate Association, national home sale rose 1% from February to March. Actual (not seasonally-adjusted) activity stood 4.9% above levels of March of last year. CREA also says the number of newly-listed homes edged up 0.5% between February and March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nosed ahead 0.23 points to 996.24
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by noon, with the gold and metals and mining sectors each down 2.9%, and global base metals sliding 2.4%
The four gainers were led by real-estate, up 0.5%, utilities, ahead 0.3%, and information technology, nosing up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks gained in early trading following upbeat reports from blue-chip companies Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson
But the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ were all in negative territory by midday
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 87.60 points to pause for lunch Tuesday at 16,085.64
The S&P 500 lost 10.68 points to 1,819.93, and the NASDAQ composite index discarded 60.59 to 3,962.10
Corporate earnings are in focus this week with nine Dow companies and 10% of the S&P 500 set to release first quarter results.
Overall, earnings in the quarter are expected to fall 1.6% versus last year, according to FactSet Research, although many of the early corporate reports have been better than expected, including Johnson & Johnson today and Citigroup yesterday.
Stocks have been choppy over the past few weeks as concerns about the true valuations of so called "momentum stocks," including many high-flying technology and biotech companies. But popular tech stocks like Facebook and Twitter rebounded yesterday and are up today.
Google, however, is down today after announcing a major acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace.
In economic news, the government's Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% in March, which was slightly stronger than expected. Excluding food and energy prices, the index increased 0.1%, matching expectations.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries recovered, lowering yields to 2.61% from Monday’s 2.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 33 cents to $103.72 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $24.10 to $1,303.40 U.S. an ounce.
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