The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained negative 38.81 points to greet noon Wednesday at 16,630.59
The Canadian dollar docked 0.32 cents at 74.13 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainer on the TSX proved to be Element Fleet Management, which rose 16 cents, or 2%, to $8.35, after RBC raised its rating on the company to "outperform".
FirstService fell 25 cents to $117.98, after reporting quarterly results.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Baytex Energy, Cenovus Energy and Bombardier.
Baytex shed a dime, or 3.3%, to $2.97, while Cenovus fell 15 cents, or 1.1%, to $13.86, and Bombardier let go of 22 cents, or 1.8%, to $12.13.
On the economic ledger, the Bank of Canada did as expected and left rates alone. The central bank maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1.75%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2% and the deposit rate is 1.5%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 0.85 points to 607.63
Eight of the 12 Toronto subgroups had recovered and made their way into the green by noon EDT, as gold hiked 1.4%, with health-care soaring 1.2%, and industrials were 0.8% more solid.
The four laggards were energy, dipping 1.5%, consumer staples, falling 0.8%, and financials, moving downward 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks traded slightly higher on Wednesday as Wall Street also digested another batch of corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average stayed in the red 8.91 points to 26,647.48
The S&P 500 slumped 2.39 points to 2,931.29
The NASDAQ Composite slipped 1.01 to 8,119.81 from Tuesday’s record close.
Facebook and Microsoft are among the companies set to report later on Wednesday, while Amazon is scheduled to release its results on Thursday.
Nearly 130 S&P 500 companies have reported calendar first-quarter earnings so far. Of those companies, 78% have reported better-than-forecast profits
Earlier on Wednesday, Caterpillar reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue for the previous quarter. However, the stock fell more than 3%. Boeing shares, meanwhile, rose 1% despite the company pulling its 2019 guidance and halting its buyback program.
Domino’s Pizza, meanwhile rose 10% on stronger-than-forecast quarterly results. Anthem and Biogen’s earnings also beat estimates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury sprang upward, lowering yields to 2.52% from Tuesday’s 2.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 51 cents to $65.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $5.90 to $1,279.10 U.S. an ounce.
