Stock indices in Toronto opened substantially lower on Tuesday as a strong U.S. dollar and mixed economic data from China put pressure on oil prices, weighing on shares of energy producers.
The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 155.16 points, or 1%, to open Tuesday’s session at 14,69933.
The Canadian dollar stumbled 0.21 cents to 79.14 cents U.S.
Paradigm raised the target price on Com Dev International to $8.50 from $7.00. Com Dev shares were even at $4.42.
Jefferies raised the rating on Goldcorp Inc. to hold. Goldcorp shares gathered 42 cents, or 1.8%, to $23.85.
National Bank Financial raised the target price on Tourmaline Oil to $50.00 from $47.50. Tourmaline shares galloped 98 cents, or 2.7%, to $37.38.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.95 points to 678.73
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower to start out, as metals and mining capsized 2.1%, while financials and global base metals each surrendered 1.7%.
Only gold shone brighter, gaining 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded 1% lower on Tuesday, pressured by a surge in the dollar and some weakness in oil.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 211.18 points, or 1.2%, to 17,784.47.
The S&P 500 fell 24.04 points to 2,055.39.
The NASDAQ index dropped 63.88 points to 4,878.56. On this day in 2000, the NASDAQ set its all-time closing and intraday highs of 5,048.60 and 5,132.50, respectively.
Chipmaker Qualcomm announced a 14% dividend hike to 48 cents U.S. per share as well as a $15-billion U.S. stock buyback program.
Credit Suisse has named Prudential chief Tidjane Thiam as its new chief executive officer. His appointment will become effective at the end of June, when current CEO Brady Dougan will step down.
Prudential shares slipped more than 2% in pre-market trade, while Credit Suisse shares surged more than 7% in pre-market trade on anticipation of the new leadership team
UBS upgraded Hewlett-Packard to buy from neutral, noting a recent pullback in the stock's price and CEO Meg Whitman's upgrade of the executive team.
Urban Outfitters reported quarterly profit of 60 cents U.S. per share, two cents above estimates, with revenue in line. Comparable store sales were up 6% for the quarter, better than the 2% reported for the full year. Urban's rise in comparable store sales was its first in a year.
Skyworks Solutions will join the S&P 500 after the closing of trading Wednesday. The semiconductor maker will replace PetSmart—which is being sold to private equity firm BC Partners—in the benchmark index.
American Eagle Outfitters, Analogic and Verifone are due to report earnings after the bell.
Wholesale inventories for January rose 0.3%, beating expectations for contraction.
The NFIB small business index for February was an encouraging 98.0, little changed from January's 97.9 but above the key level of 96 that experts recommended as a benchmark.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose sharply, lowering yields to 2.12% from Monday’s 2.20%. Treasury prices and yields tend to move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 67 cents to $49.33 U.S.
Gold prices picked up $2.60 to $1,169.10 U.S.
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