Stocks in Toronto held their own midway through Wednesday morning, as optimism faded over a new loan package offered by the European Central Bank.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index edged higher by 5.40 points to 11,722.88, after the session’s first hour.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.23 cents to 97.30 cents U.S.
Among the stocks to watch this morning is Research In Motion Ltd. The company, which saw a 77% plunge in its market value in the last 12 months, has turned down overtures from Amazon.com Inc and other potential buyers because the BlackBerry maker prefers to fix its problems on its own, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group Inc. said it bought a 16% stake in the Bermuda Stock Exchange for an undisclosed amount.
Enterprise Products and Enbridge are seeking to expand their U.S. Seaway pipeline network in the race to ease a crude oil supply glut in the Midwest by shipping it to the Gulf Coast refining hub.
Oil and natural gas whiz Longview Oil Corp. says it expects to produce more oil in 2012 than this year's target as it drilled new wells, and increased its capital spending to focus on oil projects.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said October retail sales jumped by an unexpected 1% from September, pushed up by stronger sales of motor vehicles and gasoline
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased 4.28 points to 1,436.01, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 3.78 points to 358.48
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower soon after the opening bell. Health-care stocks dropped 1.1% of their strength, while industrials fell 0.4% and real-estate issues slipped 0.3%.
The three gainers were telecoms, up 0.7%, metals and mining, ahead 0.6% and consumer staples, inching up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks opened lower Wednesday, as investors continued to fear for the health of European banks and worse-than-expected readings on the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials demurred 14.53 points to begin the day at 12,089
The S&P 500 sifted off 3.82 points, to 1,237.48, while the Nasdaq Composite dumped 33.07 points to 2,570.66
Software giant Oracle reported earnings and sales after the bell Tuesday, sparking fears of a downturn in the tech sector. The company reported quarterly earnings of 54 cents U.S. per share, which fell short of analysts' expectations. Shares fell more than 12%.
Drugstore chain Walgreens missed analysts' expectations, reporting quarterly earnings of 63 cents U.S. per share Wednesday morning. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Walgreens' to report earnings of 67 cents U.S. per share, up from 62 cents U.S. a year ago.
Used-car retailer CarMax also posted quarterly results before the bell that fell short of expectations, with earnings per share of 36 cents U.S.
Investors grew concerned about whether a sharp falloff in earnings at software maker Oracle could point to a broader slowdown in consumer spending and in the technology sector.
A housing report due out mid-morning could cause more worries over the state of the U.S. economy, which has been providing appearances of relative health lately.
Markets in Europe and the United States popped immediately after the European Central Bank announced that it had injected €489.19 billion ($643.18 billion U.S.) into the region's banks to address the eurozone debt crisis.
Investors initially read that €489.19 billion figure -- higher than an expected €300 billion --as a positive, sending European markets up, but upon further digestion, investors questioned whether the large sum actually means that European banks could be in more dire straits than initially expected.
Economically speaking, data on existing home sales for November will be released on Wednesday morning. The National Association of Realtors said last week that it would revise down some of its sales numbers going back to 2007, because of flawed data analysis.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury edged back, pushing the yield up to 1.93% from 1.92% Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery gained 47 cents to $97.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $1.10 to $1,616.50 U.S. an ounce.
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