The Toronto stock market found its way up, however slightly, Wednesday morning, amid suspense as to whether the U.S. Federal Reserve was to cease its economic stimulus program.
The S&P/TSX composite index inched up 6.07 points to 14,630.32
The Canadian dollar was up 0.28 cents to 89.82 cents U.S.
Teck Resources Ltd reported a 68.5% drop in quarterly earnings, hurt by lower prices for steelmaking coal and a fall in copper production. Teck stock raced up 34 cents, or 1.9%, to $18.18.
Oil sands producer MEG Energy Corp reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and operating profit due to lower realized prices for bitumen and higher operating costs. MEG shares gained 49 cents, or 1.7%, to $28.64.
Royal Bank of Canada said on Tuesday it pulled out of and forfeited fees in the Alibaba initial public offering, after an employee commented on the deal during the quiet period before the world's largest IPO. RBC shares fell 22 cents to $79.25.
The economic spotlight shines on two items this morning: wholesale inflation, in the form of the industrial product price index, eased 0.4% in September, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
Elsewhere, the raw materials price index gave back 1.8% in September, largely as a result of lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 3.24 points to 791.26.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups lost ground, most notably gold, down 1.5%, health-care, down 0.9%, and materials, off 0.8%
The half-dozen gainers were headed by energy, better by 1.5%, while utilities and information technology each made 0.5% worth of headway.
ON WALLSTREET
The U.S. stock market inched higher on Wednesday as investors awaited a decision from the Federal Open Market Committee that is expected to spell the end of its bond-buying program.
The likely end of the Fed’s so-called quantitative easing, or QE, and the slide in Facebook shares, have added a layer of uncertainty to the market, but hasn’t appeared to dampened early buying appetite.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 46.99 points to 17,052.74
The S&P 500 took on 2.61 points to 1,987.66. The NASDAQ index slid 16.17 points to 4,548.12.
Facebook joins Twitter in dealing with what’s been a tough week for some Internet stocks. Twitter fell nearly 10% on Tuesday after the social-media company’s results showed slowing growth in new users and analysts downgraded the stock.
Hershey Co. shares fell as the chocolate maker missed profit expectations and cut its outlook.
WellPoint Inc. shares rose after it posted adjusted earnings that beat forecasts.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. stock rallied after the tire maker reported third-quarter profit that was well above expectations.
U.S. Steel Corp. shares jumped after posting a narrower-than-expected loss and higher revenue late Tuesday.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries dipped, raising yields to 2.31% from Tuesday’s 2.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 97 cents to $82.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell $5.40 to $1,224.00 U.S. an ounce.
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