Canadian stocks swung between gains and losses as banks fell after U.S. building permits declined to a record low while energy producers rose with oil prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the day down 22.14 points at 13,524.82. The index had jumped as much as 1% and declined as much as 0.3% earlier.
The Canadian dollar kicked back 0.6 cents to sit at 100.9 cents U.S.
Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest lender by assets, dropped 0.9% to $59.05 after the U.S. reported housing starts retreated more than most economists had forecast.
Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, climbed 0.3% to $42.04, as violence escalated in Bahrain.
Cameco Corp., the world’s second-biggest uranium producer, slumped 8.1% to $29.48, after the International Atomic Energy Agency said four nuclear units in Japan have core damage.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada said this morning that manufacturing sales increased 4.5% to $47.7 billion in January – the biggest boost since July -- to the highest level since October 2008, mostly due to a major surge in the transportation equipment sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange remained positive 1.17 points to 2,131.38, while the Nasdaq Canada index slid 11.98 points to 753.38
In Toronto, nine of the 14 subgroups went downward by day’s end. Global base metals dumped 1.3%, with gold trailing 1.1%, and metals and mining stocks falling 0.8%.
Consumer staples and energy vied for the lead among gainers, picking up 0.5%, while telecoms prospered 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, the selloff in U.S. stocks accelerated Wednesday afternoon, with all three major indexes hitting their lowest levels of the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average collapsed 242.12 points, or 2%, to 11,613.30, with all but one of the blue chip index's 30 components lower. IBM, General Electric and Boeing led the decline. Earlier, the index plunged almost 300 points.
The S & P 500 was down 24.99 points to 1,256.88. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index went south 50.51 points to 2,616.82.
Trading had been extremely choppy as investors try to sort out disappointing U.S. housing data against the backdrop of developments in Japan.
Earlier in the session, all three indexes plunged to hit their lowest levels of the year, and the steep drops temporarily put the stocks in negative territory for the year.
The increasingly desperate situation at Japan's nuclear plants is keeping investors on edge.
Stunned by the devastation in Japan, they have been reducing their exposure to risky assets and flocking to investments that are considered safe, including U.S. Treasuries.
Aside from Japan, Moody's Investors Service cut Egypt's rating by one notch, further into non-investment grade quality.
And late Tuesday, Moody's downgraded Portugal's credit rating from A1 to A3 -- a lower investment grade status. And Fitch downgraded Bahrain's debt to below investment grade, following a government clash with protestors.
On things economic, the U.S. government released a report on new home construction and applications for building permits in February.
The Commerce Department reported that an annualized rate of 479,000 new homes was built in February, down from a revised 618,000 in January.
Economists had expected the number of housing starts to rise to an annual rate of 575,000 units in the month, according to consensus estimates from economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Building permits -- considered a leading indicator of activity in the housing sector -- fell to an annual rate of 517,000 last month, down from a revised 563,000 in January.
Permits were expected to have increased slightly to 563,000, according to Briefing.com.
Separately, the government's Producer Price Index showed that prices at the wholesale level jumped 1.6% in February, which was much more than expected. The PPI was forecast to show prices at the wholesale level increased 0.6% in February.
Core PPI, which excludes food and energy costs, increased by 0.2% in the month, matching expectations.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury jumped sharply, driving yields down to 3.21% from Tuesday’s 3.32%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery regained $1.18 to $98.46 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for April delivery climbed $3.30 to settle at $1,396.10 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
