Equity markets saw their comeback nipped in the bud on Tuesday as metals and gold prices weighed on resource stocks, and the Canadian dollar continued its freefall.
The S&P/TSX composite index backtracked 64.14 points to greet noon at 12,255.11, temporarily thwarting a bid to end its current slump of nine straight sessions, the index’s longest since 2002.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.46 cents to 69.89 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index were heavyweight bank stocks. Royal Bank of Canada rose 1.3% to $71.33, and Toronto Dominion Bank advanced 1.9% to $52.37.
Industrial stocks rose, powered by a 1.3% gain for Canadian National Railway to $74.40, while Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd was up 1.3% at $161.30.
Dollarama rose 4.2% to $74.82.
Goldcorp fell 4.7% to $15.99. The world's biggest gold producer by market value says it will have to look more and more for large deposits outside the Americas as its CEO lamented the rarity of such deposits Monday.
Eldorado Gold plunged 15.6% to $3.68. The company is suspending much of its mining activities in Greece.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 2.83 points to 504.49
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups fall into negative ground by noon, as metals and mining stocks slipped 5.2%, gold lost 3.5%, and materials fell 3.2%.
The five gainers were led by information technology, up 0.8%, consumer discretionary, up 0.6%, and telecoms, better by 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stateside stocks struggled for gains Tuesday, aimed at recovering from a sharply lower start to the year, as fresh lows in WTI weighed. Stabilization in the Chinese yuan overnight, which helped matters.
The Dow Jones industrial average clung to gains of 16.61 points to break for noon at 16,415.18, with UnitedHealth leading advancers and DuPont the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 sank 1.7 points to 1,921.97, with consumer discretionary leading six sectors higher and energy the greatest decliner.
The NASDAQ index remained positive 27.55 points to 4,665.54, as Apple held more than 0.5% higher.
Alcoa traded about 10% lower in late-morning trade after reporting earnings that beat expectations but revenue slightly below forecast.
The aluminum producer unofficially kicked of earnings season with its report after the close Monday. CSX is schedule to post results after the close and major financial firms are due to report Thursday.
Freeport-McMoRan extended Monday's 20% plunge with a decline of more than 10% in late-morning trade. Copper traded lower, approaching near seven-year lows.
Economically speaking, the November Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey (JOLTS for short) showed 5.431 million openings. The November quits rate was 2% unchanged from the mildly upwardly revised October rate.
Overnight, the Chinese central bank set the yuan mid-point fix at 6.5628 against the U.S. dollar, similar to Monday's fix of 6.5626.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury moved up, lowering yields to 2.12% from Friday’s 2.17%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regressed $2.83 a barrel to $30.29 U.S.
Gold prices skidded $7.55 to $1,086.65 U.S. an ounce.
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