Stocks in Toronto faltered shortly after the open on Wednesday following Tuesday's broad retreat.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 33.98 points to open Wednesday at 15,009.17
The Canadian dollar gained 0.44 cents to 83.65 cents U.S.
Consumer staples took the biggest hit, as Loblaw Companies shed nearly 2%, or $1.25, to $62.28, and Alimentation Couche-Tard dropped 70 cents, or 1.5%, to $45.33.
Industrials also slumped, as Canadian Pacific Railways slid $3.47, or 1.6%, to $215.97, and rival Canadian National gave up $1.17, or 1.5%, to $75.36.
Telecoms skidded, with Rogers Communications capsized 42 cents, or 1%, to $42.40.
Gold stocks tried to level things off, as Pretium Resources vaulted 43 cents, or 6.1%, to $7.47.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.79 points to 694.61
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower in the first hour, as consumer staples slid 1.1%, while industrials and telecoms each surrendered 0.6%.
The four gainers were led by gold, up 2.1%, materials, ahead 1%, and real-estate, up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mildly higher on Wednesday as bond yields held below recent highs and investors eyed a weak retail sales report.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 52.75 points to 18,120.98, with Microsoft leading gains and DuPont the greatest laggard
The S&P 500 index recovered 7.35 points to begin Wednesday at 2,106.47, with energy leading nine sectors higher and materials the only decliner.
The NASDAQ regained 27.39 points to 5,003.57
Owens-Illinois is buying the food and beverage glass container business of Mexico's Vitro for $2.15 billion U.S. in cash. Vitro is the largest supplier of glass containers in Mexico.
Deutsche Bank upgraded Microsoft to "buy" from "hold," saying lower estimates and a slower PC market are already reflected in the stock, and that there's new investor enthusiasm about Office 365 and other products.
DuPont shares fell more than 5.5% after the firm won a proxy fight against activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management.
Retail sales data for April was flat, with the ex-autos figure up just 0.1%, below estimates of a 0.5% gain. Expectations were for the data to show modest growth, partly due to the warmer weather.
Besides retail sales, business inventories for March showed a gain of 0.1%, just shy of the expected 0.2%
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries peeked higher, lowering yields to 2.24% from Tuesday’s 2.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased 63 cents a barrel to $61.38 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $18.20 to $1,210.60 U.S.
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