Toronto’s stock market surrendered early gains and dipped into the red by early afternoon Thursday, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced no further interest rate moves until at least 2014.
The S&P TSX Composite Index faded 45.18 points to approach noon at 12,494.03
The Canadian dollar gained 0.57 cents to 1.001 cents U.S., possibly heading for its first close above parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time since the end of October
The energy sector was flat and Suncor Energy gained 32 cents to $34.75.
The mining sector was up as the March copper contract in New York gained seven cents to $3.90 U.S. a pound. Copper prices have surged more than 13% during January amid signs of an improving economic conditions in the U.S. and China, which is the world’s biggest consumer of copper.
The metal has a reputation as an economic bellwether since it is used in so many businesses. Teck Resources ran up 83 cents to $43.30.
The gold sector climbed as Barrick Gold Corp. improved by 47 cents to $49.07.
The financials sector was the major decliner with Manulife Financial down 48 cents to $12.07 while Bank of Nova Scotia declined 43 cents to $53.09.
It was also a busy earnings day for Canadian companies.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. reported fourth-quarter net income of $221 million, an increase from $186 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew to $1.4 billion from $1.29 billion and its shares shed 54 cents to $71.11.
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. said its profits grew in the fourth quarter to $683 million U.S. or 78 cents a share, up from $508 million U.S. a year ago. However, earnings were 11 cents short of expectations.
Economically speaking, payroll numbers were presented by Statistics Canada this morning, saying that in November, average non-farm weekly earnings were fairly static at $883.96, but 2.2% higher than the same month in 2010.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 7.05 points to 1,611.10, while the Nasdaq Canada index grew 2.70 points to 409.19.
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative by midday. Financials slid 1.3%, while consumer discretionaries and health-care lost 0.8% each.
The five subgroups were led by materials, up 1.3%, while gold gained 1.2%, while the metals and mining group improved 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks straddled the breakeven line Thursday as investors digested a mixed batch of corporate earnings results and kept an eye on ongoing debt talks in Greece.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 17.86 points by noon, off its highs of the day, to 12,774.80.
The S&P 500 went down 1.76 points to 1,324.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index subtracted 6.94 points to 2,811.37.
The Dow's gains were led by Caterpillar and 3M, which both posted better-than-expected earnings results.
Meanwhile, Netflix was the biggest winner on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, with shares surging more than 20%.
Late Wednesday, the streaming video and DVD-by-mail company topped earnings and sales expectations, and said it began to add customers again last quarter after a series of blunders damaged its reputation with consumers and investors.
JCPenney and LSI were also big gainers among the S&P 500, after the companies delivered upbeat forecasts for the first quarter of 2012.
On the flip side, AT&T was the biggest laggard on the Dow after it reported quarterly earnings that fell short of forecasts. And disappointing results from SanDisk weighed on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
E*Trade was the worst performing stock in the S&P 500, after the company posted an unexpected fourth-quarter loss.
Nokia shares climbed after the mobile phone maker posted a fourth-quarter loss of €1.1 billion, and sales slumped 21% compared to the same period a year earlier. Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Elop said the Finnish company has sold well over one million Lumia devices, a smartphone using Microsoft (MST) Windows Phone software
Investors are also still waiting for news out of Athens, where Greek officials are negotiating with private-sector creditors to reduce the country's debt burden.
A stall or end to the talk, however, would be a major concern. Greece is in desperate need of an agreement to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Without these funds, the country may not be able to make a €14-billion debt payment that's due March 20.
On the economic beat, initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 21 rose to 377,000, up from a revised 356,000 the week prior, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Economists had anticipated 375,000 claims, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
Durable orders for the month of December rose 3% in December. Economists had expected orders to have risen 2%.
The Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators Index for December rose 0.4%. Economists were expecting the index to rise by 0.7%.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note leaped, lowering yields to 1.96% from Wednesday’s 2.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery surged $1.04 to $100.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery gained $27.50 to $1,727.60 U.S. an ounce.
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