Stocks on Canada’s biggest market opened lower on Wednesday, tracking its European and U.S. counterparts, as euro-zone worries intensified ahead of the weekend Greek elections and as an influential Chinese government adviser hinted at growth slowdown in the region.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index began Wednesday down 23.35 points to 11,473.95
The Canadian dollar slid 0.21 of a cent to 97.25 cents U.S.
Among stocks to watch this morning, Dollarama Inc. reported a higher quarterly profit on Wednesday, driven by improvement in sales and operating margins, and announced a plan to buy back some of its shares. Meantime, shares traveled more than 4% higher in the first hour.
Oil and gas whiz Enerplus Corp. said on Tuesday it will cut its monthly dividend by half as it looks to cope with weak commodity prices. Shares in Enerplus descended 2.9% to $13.13 early Wednesday.
No major Canadian economic data are scheduled for release today.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 7.78 points to 1,261.92. The Nasdaq Canada index shed 2.32 points to 366.35
The 14 Toronto subgroups were evenly split between gainers and losers. Information technology and gold each advanced 0.3%, while metals and mining picked up 0.2%.
The seven laggards were weighed mostly by energy and health-care stocks, each off 1.1%, while telecoms demurred 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell early Wednesday, as investors react to disappointing economic reports and await new details about Europe and trading losses at JPMorgan Chase.
The Dow Jones Industrials chopped 25.20 points to start Wednesday trading at 12,548.60
The S&P 500 was 2.69 points lower to 1,321.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index loosened by 3.44 points to 2,839.63
Stocks were pressured by a big decline in producer prices and a weak reading on retail sales in May. The disappointing data raised concerns that the U.S. economy could slip back into recession.
A survey of 20 investment strategists and money managers suggests that the S&P 500 could rise more than 8%, from its current level above 1,430 -- which means a 14% gain for the year.
Computer maker Dell said Tuesday that it will start paying dividends to shareholders later this year, boosting its stock by 4.5%.
Philip Morris International announced an $18-billion U.S. share repurchase plan Wednesday. Shares of the company, which was spun off from domestic tobacco company Altria Group in 2008, are up 8% year-to-date.
Shares of Dow component Johnson & Johnson were up. The company disclosed after the close Tuesday that it will be able to complete its purchase of Swiss medical device maker Synthes on Thursday, much sooner than expected. It also said the deal will add three to five cents U.S. a share to its earnings this year, rather than shave 22 cents U.S. a share off its profits as it previously forecast.
Meanwhile, the banking sector will be in the spotlight Wednesday, as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon testifies before Congress.
Prepared remarks released late Tuesday show Dimon will blame insufficient risk controls and a failure by traders to understand the bets they were placing for the loss.
Losses appear to be mounting, and sources tell various media outlets that what originally reported as a $2-billion U.S. loss may have grown to as much as $8 billion U.S. Details on the size of the loss and comments on the need for more regulation during the hearing could hurt shares in the banking sector.
Uncertainty in Europe also weighed on trading Wednesday morning. Investors will continue to watch Spain's troubled banks, whose exposure to bad real estate loans has led Fitch to downgrade 20 of them in the last two days.
Meanwhile, 10-year Spanish bonds yields eased Tuesday after rising Monday to unprecedented levels, even though European finance ministers agreed to give Spain up to €100 billion ($125 billion U.S.) in aid.
Yields on Italian bonds also remained well above the 6% mark, despite a slight decline. Italy's auction of €6.5 billion worth of one-year notes came in at a rate of 3.97%.
Economically speaking, the Producer Price Index, which measures changes in wholesale prices, dropped 1% in May. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a decline of 0.7%.
The government's estimates on retail sales for May showed a decline of 0.2%. This was close to expectations from economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The monthly report on April business inventories is on tap for this morning. Inventories have increased in recent months, and economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect growth of 0.2%.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury advanced a bit, lowering yields to 1.64% from Tuesday’s 1.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil slumped 99 cents to $82.34 U.S.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $7.70 to $1,621.50 U.S. an ounce.
