The Toronto stock market shed early gains early Wednesday afternoon as investors weighed news of a record loan by the European Central Bank against positive economic data from the U.S. and Canada.
The S&P/TSX Composite dropped 22.57 points to approach noon hour at 11,694.31
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.15 cents to 97.23 cents U.S.
A broad-based decline in most sectors on the TSX offset a surge in shares in market heavyweight Research In Motion Ltd. following reports the Blackberry maker had turned down potential takeover offers from online retail giant Amazon.com and other major technology players.
The Waterloo, Ont.,-based company’s stock gained 6% or 78 cents to $13.68 shortly after the open.
In corporate news, shares in TMX Group Inc. dropped 1% or 53 cents after it said it purchased a 16% minority stake in the Bermuda Stock Exchange. Those shares were trading at $41.32.
Iamgold Corp., a Toronto miner with operations around the world, says it has struck a deal with the government of Suriname in South America to expand the Canadian company’s Rosebel gold mine.
Shares were down four cents to $16.62.
Silvercorp Metals Inc. said Chinese law enforcement agents have opened a criminal investigation into what it calls "false and fraudulent reports by anonymous parties" targeting the company and its Chinese subsidiaries. Shares added six cents to $6.58.
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 4.34 points to 1,435.95, while the Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.22 points to 359.92
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by midday. Health-care stocks dropped 1.1% of their strength, while global base metals faded 0.7%, and industrials fell 0.6%
The three gainers were telecoms, up 0.9%, consumer staples, inching up 0.3% and information technology, eking up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks dropped Wednesday, as investors continued to fear for the health of European banks and reacted to worse-than-expected readings on the U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell off 83.40 points to break for lunch at 12,020.20
The S&P 500 sifted off 8.22 points, to 1,233.08, while the Nasdaq Composite dumped 54.27 points to 2,549.46
Software makers pulled down the Nasdaq. Oracle's shares dropped 14% on negative earnings. Competitors including Fortinet, TIBCO Software, and Teradata dropped more than 10%.
Shares of drugstore chain Walgreens dropped nearly 6% after it 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 shares declined nearly 7% after the company posted quarterly results before the bell that fell short of expectations, with earnings per share of 36 cents U.S.
Economically speaking, the U.S. National Association of Realtors reported home sales rose 4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million. That’s below the roughly six million homes a year that economists say are consistent with a healthy housing market.
But the group also released numbers showing that sales during the financial crisis were actually 14.3% worse than the association had originally reported. It revised its sales numbers down 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 1.94% from 1.92% Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery gained $1.19 to $98.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $7.00 to $1,610.60 U.S. an ounce.
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