The Toronto stock market turned slightly lower Wednesday afternoon as energy shares and oil prices retreated and investors sold off transportation giant Bombardier amid a big writedown.
The S&P/TSX composite index gave up 42.61 points to close at 14,041.82
The Canadian dollar retreated 0.09 cents to 83.59 cents U.S.
Bombardier was a major drag on the TSX as its stock tumbled $1.07, or 25.9%, to $3.07 on a very heavy volume of 55 million shares as it announced it will write down the value of its Learjet 85 program, resulting in a pretax charge of about $1.4 billion U.S. in its fourth quarter.
Bombardier is cutting about 1,000 employees in Mexico and the United States due to weak demand for the business jet.
Analysts said markets were also alarmed by the fact that cash flow from the aerospace division is expected to be only $800 million U.S., down from an estimate of between $1.2 billion U.S. and $1.6 billion U.S. in its prior forecast. Markets were already jittery over delays associated with its much anticipated CSeries jet.
On the TSX, Canadian Tire seemed to be a beneficiary from the Target announcement with its shares ahead $3.38, or 2.9%, to $119.62.
BlackBerry fell $2.94, or 19.6%, to $12.08 on the TSX after the device maker and smartphone company Samsung poured cold water on a report that Samsung wants to make a $7.5-billion takeover offer for the struggling Canadian company.
BlackBerry had surged 29% late Wednesday after Reuters reported that Samsung has recently made overtures to buy BlackBerry.
The TSX gold sector was the major advancer, as Barrick Gold surged $1.21, or 9.8%, to $13.62
The metals and mining sector was up after plunging the previous two sessions. Copper prices revived somewhat after plunging 14 cents a pound Wednesday in the wake of a weak U.S. retail sales report and a downward revision to global economic growth by the World Bank. The March copper contract was up five cents to $2.56 U.S. a pound.
Teck Resources fell 15 cents, or 1.1%, to $13.56.
The energy sector shed early advances and was down slightly as Imperial Oil dipped 21 cents to $44.94.
In the economic docket, the Canadian Real Estate Association reported that national home sales fell 5.8% from November to December. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity stood 7.9% above December 2013 levels, with some 481,162 homes traded hands in 2014 — the highest annual level in seven years.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.45 points to 659.24
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were gainers on the day, with gold soaring 7.4%, materials up 3.6%, and utilities advancing 1.3%
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by information technology, down 2.8%, industrials, off 1.4%, and energy, sliding 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell for a fifth day on Thursday, with the S&P 500 finishing below 2,000 for the first time in a month, as crude prices fell, large U.S. banks reporting disappointing results, and Switzerland's central bank unexpectedly gave up its minimum exchange rate.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 106.38 points to 17,320.71, with JP Morgan Chase leading blue-chip declines.
The S&P 500 slumped 18.60 points to 1,992.67. The NASDAQ index skidded 68.50 points to 4,570.82.
Bank of America dropped after the bank reported a 14% fall in quarterly profit.
Citigroup also declined as it posted a slim fourth-quarter profit. Target shares rose after the discount retailer should it would discontinue operations in Canada.
Economic reports had wholesale prices falling 0.3% in December, and a larger-than-expected number filing for jobless benefits last week, up by 19,000 to 316,000.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, dropping yields to 1.78% from Wednesday’s 1.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped $2.18 per barrel to $46.30 U.S.
Gold prices moved forward $22.10 an ounce to $1,256.60 U.S.
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