Stocks in Toronto were on the downside looking up as the clock approached noon ET Tuesday, reeling from downward commodity prices and a devaluation of China’s currency.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 188.28 points, or 1.3%, to greet noon at 14,278.11.
The Canadian dollar subtracted 0.83 cents to 76.08 cents U.S.
On the economic front, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the seasonally-adjusted annualized rate of housing starts fell to 193,032 in July from a downwardly-revised 202,338 units in June. Forecasters had expected 195,000 starts.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture backtracked 3.98 points to 578.9.
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups lost ground Tuesday morning, with global base metals falling 5.4%, metals and mining down 5.3%, and energy doffing 2.4%.
Gold was the only stock to hold out against the negative tide, gaining 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded about 1% lower on Tuesday after an unexpected move overnight by the People's Bank of China to depreciate the yuan by nearly 2%.
The Dow Jones industrial average faltered 219.12 points, or 1.2%, to pause for lunch at 17,396.05, wiping out most of Monday's gains as
Apple and Caterpillar plunged more than 3% each to lead declines.
The index snapped a seven-day losing streak on Monday with a 241-point gain.
The S&P 500 subsided 23.52 points, or 1.1%, to 2,080.66,
The NASDAQ index lost 65.67 points, or 1.3%, to 5,036.13. Biotech stocks and Apple outweighed Google's 3.5% jump to pressure the NASDAQ Composite off 1%.
Investors also watched Google, which unexpectedly announced after the close Monday that it will become part of a new publicly traded entity called Alphabet. Shares will still trade under the tickers GOOGL and GOOG. Class A shares jumped more than 5% in morning trade.
Before the opening bell, Towers Watson posted quarterly results that beat expectations on both the top and bottom line.
In other earnings news, Shake Shack posted results after the close Monday that beat on both the top and bottom line. The restaurant chain also raised its full-year guidance.
Kraft Heinz reported a decline in sales at both its Kraft and Heinz divisions. Combined results for the recently merged firm were not reported.
Computer Sciences, Symantec, Cree and Cyber Ark Software will report after the bell.
On the data front, preliminary second quarter productivity was up at an annual rate of 1.3%, while unit labour costs were up 0.5%.
Wholesale sales rose 0.1% in June, the weakest since March of this year, while inventories topped expectations with a gain of 0.9%.
May's figure was revised lower to 0.6% from 0.8%.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.13% from Monday’s 2.23%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped $1.81 a barrel to $43.15 U.S.
Gold prices added $4.40 to $1,108.50 U.S. an ounce.
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