The Canadian dollar fell and the Toronto stock market gave back the previous day's strong gains as North American markets traded sharply lower Thursday.
The S&P/TSX composite index declined 118.07 points, or 1%, to end the day at 11,911.89.
The Canadian dollar shed 0.12 cents to 98.15 cents U.S.
Government figures showed China's export growth during September was 17.1% higher compared with the same month a year earlier, but that still represented a decline from August's 24.5% figure.
Import growth also fell. A strong Chinese economy has done much to support a shaky global economic recovery.
Shares of Magna International Inc. were off 4.6% to $37.18 after the auto-parts maker said it was cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing antitrust investigation of the auto tooling industry.
The Metals and Mining sector shed some strength, following a dip in prices of precious metals Thursday morning. Shares of First Quantum Minerals Ltd. tumbled 4.2% to $16.48, while shares of Teck Resources Ltd. dropped 1.6% to $35.44.
Gold futures fell as investors took profits from this week’s gold rally. Barrick Gold shed 2% to $48.00, while Goldcorp Inc. shares were off 1.5% to $47.90
Energy stocks in Toronto were also down as Cenovus Energy Inc. shares lost 1.6% to $34.26.
In telecom, shares of Research In Motion Ltd. fell 0.6% to $24.12, as the BlackBerry maker began to restore service to its global network after outages this week.
Economically speaking, numbers out from Statistics Canada this morning revealed that Canada's trade deficit with the world went from $539 million in July to $622 million in August, with both imports and exports growing.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange backpedaled 10.14 points to 1,532.63 while the Nasdaq Canada index dipped 3.28 points to 445.87
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups remained negative through the day, weighed down mostly by metals and mining, off 2.4%, utilities, down 2%, and financial stocks, skidding 1.4%.
The lone stalwart was in the information technology sector, up 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks ended mixed Thursday, as investors took a breather from the recent rallies and turned cautious after a lackluster earnings report from JPMorgan Chase
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 40.72 points to finish at 11,478.10. The S&P 500 tripped 3.59 points to 1,203.66. Financials were among the big losers, as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America dragged on the Dow with shares falling about 5%. Citigroup and Morgan Stanley also sank.
Meantime, technology stocks were among the strongest performers, with the Nasdaq strengthening 15.51 points to 2,620.24. Nvidia and Micron Technology gained between about 6%.
Google reported results after the bell that topped estimates for sales and earnings.
Earlier in the day, JPMorgan reported profit and revenue figures that topped Wall Street estimates, but fell from a year earlier. Investors were disappointed as CEO Jamie Dimon said the investment bank is being "extremely cautious, while navigating through this challenging economic environment."
Europe's ongoing debt troubles have been weighing on Wall Street for months. A survey by CNNMoney shows that 80% of the experts agree that the most challenging hurdle for the stock market is the euro-zone debt crisis.
On Thursday, Slovakia became the final euro area country to ratify overhauling the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which is essentially a bailout for Greece and other troubled euro-zone countries.
The approval was widely expected, after it had previously voted the measure down earlier this week.
Later this week, finance ministers from the world's leading economies will meet to discuss ways to strengthen the faltering global recovery, focusing on the European debt crisis.
Research in Motion shares continued to struggle, after the BlackBerry-maker company's worst-ever outage that started in Europe on Monday. RIM said BlackBerry service has been fully restored worldwide Thursday morning.
Apple's stock ticked higher. The company's iPhone 4S goes on sale in Apple stores Friday, as well Sprint Verizon and AT&T locations and select Best Buy, Target) and Wal-Mart stores. The pre-order of the iPhone 4S was wildly successful, topping one million sales in 24 hours.
On the economic front, the government’s count of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits last week declining by 1,000 to 404,000 and the U.S. trade deficit little changed at $45.6 billion U.S. in August.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury shot higher, pushing the yield down to 2.17% from 2.23% late Wednesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for October delivery stepped back $1.12 to $84.45 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for December delivery fell $14.10 to settle at $1,668.50 U.S. an ounce.
Related Stories
