Markets stepped back Tuesday, as oil and gold prices subsided and more doubt pervaded the air over the seriousness of the swine flu outbreak.
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index finished the day off 46.77 points, to 9,348.03
Concerns that swine flu could hurt the travel and tourism industries are escalating after the World Health Organization raised its global alert to a phase four out of six.
The WHO said the swine flu virus spreads easily but is not pandemic.
Petro-Canada, which agreed last month to a takeover by Suncor Energy Inc., posted a first-quarter loss after crude prices plunged and a tar-sands project was deferred.
The net loss was $47 million. or 10 cents a share, compared with profit of $1.08 billion, or $2.20, a year earlier. Even so, shares in the company jumped seven cents to $37.65.
Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil company, pulled its $830-million bid for Canadian oil-sands developer UTS Energy Corp. after failing to get the minimum number of shares required.
Shares in UTS fell six cents to $1.52.
Suncor Energy Inc., the world’s second-largest oil-sands producer, declined 1% to $30.18.
EnCana Corp., Canada’s biggest natural-gas producer, rose 1.3% to $54.57. Natural gas futures rose after closing at a six-year low yesterday.
Barrick Gold Corp. fell 3.2% to $35.51. Goldcorp Inc., the second-largest producer by market value, lost 2.7% to $34.06. Kinross Gold Corp., Canada’s third-largest producer, retreated 2.3% to $18.66.
Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. climbed 2% to $45.02. Canada’s largest pharmacy chain reported first-quarter profit of 49 cents a share, beating the average analyst estimate by 3.2%. Revenue of $2.20 billion topped the average estimate of $2.16 billion.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.11 cents to 81.92 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, nine remained negative, weighed down by gold, down 2.6%, metals and mining stocks, subtracting 2.2%, and materials and 2%.
Gaining stocks were led by telecoms, ahead 1.1%, information technology, up 0.9%, and consumer staples, which added 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 9.88 points to 993.10 while the Nasdaq Canada Index slid 12.78 to 645.36
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average spent some time in the black, before fading below Monday’s breakeven by eight points, to 8,016.95.
The S&P 500 index slipped 2.35 points to 858.59, while the Nasdaq Composite Index sagged 5.6 points to 1,673.81.
Investors are also nervous that banks' souring assets could hinder the economy's recovery.
U.S. financials were lower after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. regulators have told Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. that they may need to raise more capital.
Each bank has already received $45 billion U.S. in government bailout funds.
Regulators briefed officials at the 19 biggest U.S. banks on Friday about the "stress tests" they conducted on the institutions but are not planning to release the results publicly until May 4.
Bank of America shares fell 9%, Citi dropped 6%
Drugmakers Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb reported earnings early Tuesday.
Pfizer's profit dropped 2%, but managed to beat Wall Street's estimates. The company's sales fell 8.3%, however, missing analysts' forecasts. Pfizer said the expiration of its patent on Zyrtec helped drive pharmaceutical sales down.
Bristol-Myers reported earnings that rose 3.4% in the quarter, meeting analysts' estimates.
Sales were also up 2.5%, roughly in line with expectations. The company reaffirmed its 2009 outlook.
IBM said Tuesday that it will increase its quarterly dividend by 10% and will buy another $3 billion U.S. of its outstanding stock.
In other news, biotech Dendreon said its experimental treatment added four months to the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer. But Dendreon shares tumbled 45% before the stock was halted, ahead of the news.
On the economic front, the U.S. consumer confidence index jumped to 39.2 in April from 26.9 in March, the Conference Board reported Tuesday. The 12.3-point gain in the index was the fourth-largest ever in the 32-year history of the survey. Economists were expecting the index to rise about five points to 30.5.
Consumers were a little happier about the present situation than they were in March, but the big improvement came in the expectations index, which surged to 49.5 in April from 30.2 in March, the biggest increase since the fall of Baghdad in the spring of 2003.
Also, the Case/Shiller housing index showed that home prices dropped sharply in February, but for the first time in 25 months the decline was not a record - another sign the housing crisis could be bottoming.
Treasury prices slipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.01% from 2.92% Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for June delivery slipped 90 cents to $49.24 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for June delivery fell $14.60 to settle at $893.60 U.S. an ounce.
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