Stocks on Bay Street traded flat on Wednesday -- as investors took in weak GDP numbers while gold stocks fell and oil prices moved lower after the US government reported an unexpected decline in crude inventories.
The S&P/TSX composite index ended down 1.36 points to 8,310.55.
In corporate news -- cash-strapped Air Canada has negotiated another loan to help it run operations, this time a US$195-million financing agreement with General Electric Capital Corp. The announcement helped its shares rise 12 percent, or 17 cents, to $1.55.
On the data front -- Statistics Canada reports the Canadian economy shrank in October, with gross domestic product falling 0.1 percent in October after increasing 0.1 percent in September. Wholesale trade, manufacturing and real estate had the biggest drags on growth.
Down south -- the Labor Department reported that Initial applications for unemployment benefits increased to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 last week from 554,000 in the prior week, well above expectations for 558,000.
In other data Wednesday, durable orders fell by 1 percent, vs. an expectation for a 3.1 percent drop, according to the Commerce Department.
Also, consumer spending declined 0.6 percent in November, 0.2 percent less than expected, according to the Commerce Department. Personal income fell 2 percent, vs. an expectation for no change.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, traded 0.28 cents higher to 82.44 cents US.
BAYSTREET
Seven of the TSX sub-groups traded higher today -- telecom stocks gained 1.68 percent followed by a 1.59 percent rise in real-estate issues and a 1.56 percent climb in utility stocks.
Gold was rising $4.60 to $842.70 US an ounce.
On the downside -- gold stocks were off 1.20 percent; tech issues shed 0.82 percent and energy stocks shed 0.43 percent.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange was off 1.31 points to 697 and the NASDAQ Canada was down 5.70 points at 425.51.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks finished higher after a shortened pre-holiday trading session Wednesday, gaining ground as data on consumer spending and durable goods orders for November came in better than expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 42 points at 8461, and the S&P 500 gained 5 points at 868. The Nasdaq was recently up 1.5 points at 1523.
Shares of General Motors Corp., hit hard this week, led the blue-chip gains, up 8 percent.
Automotive rival Toyota Motor Corp. said that its domestic production dropped 27.2 percent in November from a year earlier to 288,138 vehicles, the fourth straight monthly decrease.
Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. added 0.3 percent. The world's largest retailer said late Tuesday it will settle 63 wage-and-hour class-action lawsuits, some of which have been pending against the company over the last several years.
Insurer AIG said Wednesday that it bought about $16 billion in investments known as collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, through a financing company set up by the insurer and the government to help relieve AIG of its exposure to the riskiest portion of the credit markets.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were recently rising. The 10-year was up 4/32 to yield 2.2 percent, and the 30-year was adding 7.5/32, yielding 2.6 percent. The American dollar was recently weaker against the euro and yen, and stronger against the pound.
U.S. light crude oil for February delivery was down $1.32 at $37.64 US a barrel in New York. Crude prices fell sharply after the government reported an unexpected decline in crude inventories.
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