Equities in Canada declined on Thursday, led by technology stocks, as Apple's rare sales warning fanned worries about slowing global economic and corporate growth.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was still in the red 102.53 points to move into noon hour at 14,244.63
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.81 cents at 74.17 U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were New Gold, up 6.5 cents, or 5.9%, to $1.17, and Precision Drilling, up 10 cents, or 4.1%, to $2.57.
Turquoise Hill Resources fell seven cents, or 3.1%, to $2.16, while Maxar Technologies experienced a fall of 88 cents, or 5.2%, to $16.04.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 3.64 points to 574.64
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative midday, with information technology fading 2.8%, industrials down 1.3%, and consumer discretionary stocks sliding 1.2%
The four gainers were led by health-care, ahead 0.8%, while energy was boosted 0.4%, and communications, up 0.3%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday following a dire quarterly warning from Apple and the release of weaker-than-expected manufacturing data. The iPhone maker blamed a slowing Chinese economy for the shortfall, intensifying fears that the global economy may be slowing down.
The Dow Jones Industrials Index stayed lower 447.74, or 1.9%, to break for lunch Thursday at 22,898.50, as Apple shares led the decline.
The S&P 500 docked 50.79 points, or 2%, to 2,460.24, as the tech sector fell 3.2%
The NASDAQ Composite weakened 158.87 points, or 2.4%, to 6,507.07, as Apple’s stock dropped 8.3%
A weaker-than-expected economic reading on manufacturing sent the Dow to its lows of the day. ISM’s manufacturing index fell to 54.1 in December. Economists polled by Refinitiv expected 57.9.
Apple said it sees first-quarter revenue of $84 billion vs. a previous guidance of a range of $89 billion and $93 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $91.3 billion for the period.
Apple blamed most of the revenue shortfall for struggling business in China. But the company also said that upgrades by customers in other countries were "not as strong as we thought they would be."
Apple’s warning also dragged down other companies that do big business in China. Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Skyworks and Qorvo all dropped in trading on the Apple warning. Skyworks lost more than 7%.
Caterpillar shares were down more than 1%. Boeing shares dropped 1.6%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury enjoyed sharp gains, lowering yields to 2.58% from Wednesday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained back 13 cents to $46.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices acquired $7.70 at $1,291.80 U.S. an ounce.
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