Commodity stocks led the way to a tumble of nearly 300 points on the Toronto stock market today while the Canadian dollar retreated more than two U.S. cents.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 298.67 points - or 2.8% - to 10,290.12.
Today's showing leaves the TSX slightly lower for the week but the market is still up over 35% since the lows of March 9 as investors readjusted expectations.
But many analysts warn that the market needs to see real signs of growth before it can move much higher.
Transportation giant Bombardier Inc. was another source of pressure on the TSX after it said general economic weakness and order cancellations in its aerospace division led to a decline in first-quarter profit and revenue. It earned $158 million U.S., down from $229 million U.S. a year ago, while revenue slipped to $4.5 billion U.S. compared to $4.8 billion U.S.
Earnings missed expectations by a penny a share and Bombardier shares fell 33 cents or 8.5% to $3.54 Canadian.
The Energy Information Administration reported that inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels last week, while analysts had expected a decline of two million barrels.
The energy sector slid as EnCana Corp. fell $2.72 to $59.90 and Suncor Inc. gave back $2.19 to $35.74.
The base metals sector fell while the price for copper dropped eight cents to $2.21 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources Ltd. fell $1.11 to $17.60.
The financial sector was down as Royal Bank declined 88 cents to $44.01 and Scotiabank lost $1.15 to $38.70.
Davis + Henderson Income Fund announced a deal to buy financial services firm Resolve Business Outsourcing Income Fund in an all-stock deal worth about $88.7 million. Davis + Henderson units declined 78 cents to $12.38 while Resolve units ran ahead 68 cents to $3.38.
The gold sector stepped back, as Goldcorp Inc. faded $1.89 to $40.31.
In other Canadian corporate news, WestJet AirlinesComm May traffic was down in a "tough demand environment," with a load factor at 74.1%, down 5.4 percentage points. Revenue passenger miles were down 5.8% year-over-year while capacity was up 1.2%. WestJet shares fell $1.03 to $10.91.
Fertilizer giant Agrium Inc. says its $4.1-billion U.S. bid for CF Industries Holdings Inc. is the "best and final" offer the company will make and has extended the deal's closing to midnight June 22. Agrium shares fell $2.88 to $50.05.
American markets were depressed after the ADP employment index showed that the U.S. private sector eliminated 532,000 jobs in May, the fewest jobs lost since November but higher than estimates of 525,000.
The report came out two days before the U.S. government releases its non-farm payrolls report for May, which is expected to show similar job losses. Goods producing industries cut 267,000 jobs while services cut 265,000.
Canadian employment data for last month also comes out on Friday. Economists expect that the economy shed about 42,000 jobs last month.
As noted, the upward run ended most emphatically Wednesday for the Canadian dollar, which jettisoned 2.37 cents to 90.12 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, all but one were negative. Metals and mining stocks suffered the most, off 4.9%, energy stocks lost 4.6% and materials sank 3.5%.
The only gainer was in the consumer discretionary group, ahead a mere 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was down 33.78 points at 1,107.96 while the Nasdaq Canada Index went lower by 22.49 points to 769.06.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slipped Wednesday, with a four-session advance losing steam, after mixed readings on the economy and ahead of retail sales and labor market reports due later this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials average tumbled 65.63 points to end Wednesday’s trading at 8,675.24
The S&P 500 index fell 12.98 points to 931.76, while the Nasdaq Composite Index subsided 10.88 points, to 1,825.92.
Reports on the job market, factory orders and the services sector of the economy were in focus, along with congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The Federal Reserve Chairman told the House Budget Committee that while data show the pace of the recession is slowing, the economy still has a lot of work ahead of it.
In particular, Bernanke talked about the impact of the still-weak labor market and decline in household wealth.
In other news, the Institute for Supply Management's reading on the services sector of the economy improved to 44 from 43.7 in April. However, that was short of forecasts for an improvement to 45.
Factory orders rose 0.7% in April after falling 1.9% in March. Economists thought orders would rise 0.9%.
The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released a report showing that job cuts by U.S. employers totaled 111,182 in May, a 16% decline from 132,590 cuts in April.
That was followed by a report from payroll manager ADP showing a decline of 532,000 private sector jobs in May, compared to the revised decline of 545,000 jobs in April. The May job drop was slightly worse than the expected decline of 525,000, according to Briefing consensus.
The two readings come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's monthly report on employment, which is slated for Friday.
Separately, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on the bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors.
Treasury prices rose, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.59% from 3.61% Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for July delivery fell $2.43 to settle at $66.12 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for August delivery slipped $18.70 to settle at $964.50 U.S. an ounce
