Equities in Canada’s largest market fell to a more than one-week low on Thursday, suffering broad-based losses as China's weak trade data and the prospects of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike by the end of the year weighed on global markets.
The S&P/TSX Composite came off its lows of the day, still negative 47.59 points to greet noon hour at 14,571.38
The Canadian dollar regained 0.39 cents to 75.71 cents U.S.
Some of the most influential movers on the index were the country's heavyweight bank stocks. Bank of Nova Scotia fell 1% to $69.26 and Toronto-Dominion Bank declined 0.8% to $57.45, while the overall financials group slumped.
The energy group fell, weighed by a 1.3% drop in the shares of Suncor Energy to $36.72.
Teck Resources Ltd fell nearly 5% to $23.51 after having reached its highest in more than two years on Wednesday.
Goldcorp Inc climbed 1.2%to $19.26 and Barrick Gold advanced 0.8% to $21.19.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported that its new housing price index rose 0.2% in August from July.
The agency also says, while prices were up in eight census metropolitan areas, the increase was largely attributable to new housing prices in the combined region of Toronto and Oshawa.
ON BAY STREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked downward 0.02 points to 770.53
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as consumer discretionary stocks dipped 1.1%, information technology was down 0.8%, and materials slid 0.7%.
The two gainers were gold, up 0.3%, and energy, inching up 0.2%.
ON WALL STREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Thursday as weak data out of China coupled with a possible U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike weighed on investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrials stayed negative 125.73 points to 18,018.47, with DuPont leading decliners and Merck and Wal-Mart the only advancers.. The index briefly broke below the 18,000 mark and hit its lowest level since July 7.
The S&P 500 fell 13.85 points to 2,125.33, with financials shedding more than 1.5% to lead decliners.
The NASDAQ Composite retreated 38.34 points to 5,200.68
Investors also kept an eye on quarterly corporate reports from U.S. firms, as earnings season begins to ramp up. Before the bell, Delta Air Lines reported mixed quarterly results, missing estimates on the top line while beating on the bottom.
On Friday, financial giants JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo will be reporting earnings. Wells Fargo announced Wednesday afternoon that John Stumpf would leave his post of CEO immediately, following Wells' cross-selling scandal.
In U.S. economic news, weekly jobless claims held at a 43-year low, while import prices rose less than expected in September.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 1.75% from Wednesday’s 1.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 13 cents to $50.31 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices stayed buoyant $4.50 to $1,258.30 U.S. an ounce.
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