Canadian equities headed lower Wednesday, pulling back after tallying a five-session gain of nearly 3% amid disappointing data on U.S. private payrolls.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index slid 90.23 points to at 12,242.56
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.33 cents to 101.10 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch this morning, Barrick Gold said its first-quarter profit rose, driven by a surge in bullion prices, and the world's largest gold miner raised its quarterly dividend 33%
Fortis Inc's quarterly profit rose 4%, partly on lower taxes.
Yamana Gold Inc said on Tuesday its quarterly profit rose 15% as revenue was boosted by higher production and stronger gold prices.
Business software whiz Open Text Corp. agreed to acquire EasyLink Services, a provider of cloud-based messaging services, for $232 million, in an attempt to tap business in the growing Cloud and mobile environments.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 2.55 points to 1,429.13
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell early Wednesday as a weak private-sector jobs report overshadowed upbeat corporate results.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 49.84 points to 13,229.50, while the S&P 500 dipped 6.95 points to 1,398.87, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8.19 to 3,042.25.
A day after a strong report on manufacturing activity pushed the Dow to its highest close since December 2007, investors were hit with a grim reminder of the lackluster job market.
Payroll processor ADP reported tepid private-sector job growth in April, raising concerns about the government's monthly jobs report due Friday.
Shares of Chesapeake Energy (CHK, Fortune 500) plunged more than 10% after the natural gas company reported a surprise loss late Tuesday.
TripAdvisor (TRIP) shares jumped 17%, after the travel website said late Tuesday that net income surged 118% in the first quarter.
Early Wednesday, Comcast reported quarterly earnings that beat expectations. The cable company announced earnings of 45 cents U.S. per share on revenue of $14.9 billion U.S. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected Comcast to post quarterly earnings of 42 cents a share on $14.4 billion U.S. in revenue.
Time Warner reported quarterly earnings of 67 cents U.S. per share on revenue of $7 billion U.S., surpassing expectations. A consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecasted an EPS of 64 cents U.S. for Time Warner, with revenue of $6.8 billion U.S.
Economically speaking, the ADP report showed that the private sector added 119,000 jobs in April. That's considerably less than the forecast of 170,000 new jobs, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com. It's also a significant decline from the prior month, when the private sector added 201,000 jobs.
The ADP report typically sets the tone for the government's highly anticipated monthly jobs report, due Friday.
Economists expect the U.S. Labor Department's data to show 160,000 jobs added in April, including 165,000 from the private sector and a loss of 5,000 government jobs.
The unemployment rate is not expected to fall below its current 8.2%, unless more workers leave the labour force.
Separately, factory orders for the month of March are expected to have dropped by 1.8%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note inched up, bringing the yields down 1.92% from Tuesday’s 1.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 72 cents to $105.44 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for June delivery fell $9 to $1,653.40 an ounce.
