Canadian stocks tumbled Thursday, led by commodity companies, as market confidence waned on disappointment following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index swooned 119.17 points, or 1.1% -- off its lows of the day -- to close at 11,410.61
The Canadian dollar regained 0.14 cents at 98.18 cents U.S.
Among the poorest-performing commodity names were Class A shares of Calvalley Petroleum, falling 41 cents, or 16.1%, to $2.14, and Second Wave Petroleum, losing six cents, or 7%, or 80 cents.
Elsewhere in the energy field, Imperial Oil shrank seven cents to $42.11, Suncor Inc. stepped back 39 cents, or 1.3%, to $28.86, Canadian Natural Resource ducked back 36 cents, or 1.4%, to $26.10.
On the earnings front, Corus Entertainment shares fell $1.15, or 4.9%, to $22.25, after the television and radio broadcaster posted a fiscal third-quarter profit of $0.51 a share, up from $0.49, a year ago.
However, the company’s revenues fell to $204.1 million from $211.8 million, and it warned it would have a hard time meeting earlier full-year profit targets.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said the May new housing price index rose 0.3%, following a 0.2% increase in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 23.60 points to 1,169.19. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 2.25 points to 341.40.
Of the 14 Toronto subgroups, nine were still down on the day, with metals and mining stocks tailing off 2.2%, global base metals and energy issues erasing 1.3% each.
The five gainers were led by real-estate, up a slight 0.2%, health-care, up 0.1%, and telecoms, inching up 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks skidded to a lower close Monday, as investors remained wary ahead of quarterly corporate results and another euro-zone meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 31.26 points to end the day at 12,573.30
The S&P 500 doffed 5.96 points to 1,335.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index slumped 21.79 points to 2,866.19.
Industrial and energy shares led the declines, with Chevron, DuPont, Caterpillar and Exxon Mobil finished the day down between 1% and 3%.
All three indexes closed lower, but bounced back from the lows of the day into the close.
After 63 out of 103 companies lowered projections for earnings, investors are growing increasingly nervous about what Corporate America will say as second-quarter results kick off with aluminum producer and Dow component Alcoa after the market close.
Aluminum producer Alcoa reported second-quarter results in line with analysts' expectations, and shares moved up slightly in after hours trading. Alcoa's earnings fell in the second quarter, but the company said it sees strong demand.
Results are due later in the week from search giant Google and banking leaders JPMorgan and Wells Fargo
Shares of health-care provider Amerigroup soared 38% after the company announced it would be acquired by WellPoint for $4.9 billion U.S. The deal comes less than a month after last month's U.S. Supreme Court health reform decision, which will change the landscape of the country's health care system.
Shares of Campbell Soup dropped after the company announced it would acquire organic juice maker Bolthouse Farms for $1.55 billion U.S.
Investors shrugged off a decline in the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits filed in the holiday-shortened week ended July 7.
They are worried that European leaders won't be able to make good on their most recent pledge to get a permanent bailout fund in place. And Wednesday's minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting -- which showed the central bank was wary of announcing any new stimulus measures anytime soon -- is adding to the pessimism.
Concerns about the euro-zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, weighed on European stocks.
Implementation of the fund won't be quick, and a German high court's decision about whether that country's involvement violates its laws may not happen for months.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported 350,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits during the week ended July 7 -- beating expectations and reaching a four-year low. The latest numbers showed a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's 376,000.
Import prices excluding fuels dropped by 0.3% in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices have continued to fall for most of the year so far.
The Federal Reserve released May's consumer credit, which expanded more than economists predicted. Credit expanded by $17.5 billion U.S. in May compared to analysts' forecasts of $9.5 billion U.S., after growing by a revised $9.5 billion U.S. in April.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, pushing the yield down to 1.48% from Wednesday’s 1.50%.
Oil for August delivery regained 13 cents to $85.94 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery rose $10.20 to $1,589.10 U.S. an ounce.
