The Toronto stock market opened lower as gold and oil prices lost ground and despite some data painting a relatively rosy picture of the North American economy.
The S&P/TSX composite index subtracted 60.28 points to approach noon Thursday at 12,343.35
The Canadian dollar nosed up 0.04 cents to 101.18 cents U.S.
Commodity prices were mixed with copper prices shedding seven cents to $3.53 U.S. a pound.
In Canadian corporate news, Bombardier Inc. has a firm deal to sell at least 10 of its new CSeries passenger jets to AirBaltic, which has an option to buy an additional 10 planes. The Latvian airline's firm order has a list value of $764 million U.S. The deal could be worth up to $1.57 billion U.S. if AirBaltic fully exercises options to buy an additional 10 Bombardier CS300s.
It's the second major order for the new-generation CSeries planes announced this week by the Montreal-based aerospace company. Bombardier said Thursday that an unidentified airline based in the Americas wants to buy 12 to 30 CSeries planes, worth up to $2.08 billion U.S. Shares added 3%, or 95 cents, to $3.66.
After markets close Thursday, traders will get the last peek into RIM's financials before it releases its much anticipated new line of smartphones in the New Year. Shares were up 1.3%, or 18 cents to $13.67.
Analysts will be closely watching the company's cash volume and subscriber numbers after the BlackBerry-maker surprised in the last quarter with better than expected numbers on both fronts.
RIM has already said it expects to report an operating loss in its most recent quarter. Analysts are expecting a quarterly loss of 32 cents per adjusted share on revenue of $2.6 billion.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that retail sales rose 0.7% in October, stronger than market expectations for a 0.2% gain and September's 0.2% increase
The nation’s number crunchers also said average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees rose to $909 in October, up 0.9% from September.
On a year-over-year basis, earnings were up 2.8%. That reflected a number of factors, including wage growth and changes in the composition of employment by industry as well as the average number of hours worked.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 5.47 points to 1,171.05
In all, 10 of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by lunch hour. Gold dropped 2.2%, materials 2% and the metals and mining group sagged 1.2%.
The four gainers were led by industrials, up 0.4%, real-estate, surging 0.2%, and information technology, inching up 0.04%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were little changed Thursday as fiscal cliff negotiations in Washington seemed to be headed for a showdown.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 8.96 points to break for lunch Thursday at 13,243
The S&P 500 moved up 0.89 points to 1,436.70. The Nasdaq Composite faded 4.53 points to 3,039.83.
On the corporate front, shares of NYSE Euronext surged 37% after the operator of the New York Stock Exchange agreed to be bought by IntercontinentalExchange for $8.2 billion U.S. in cash and stock.
KB Home shares fell after the homebuilder reported quarterly earnings that declined over the past year.
Meanwhile, Rite Aid stock soared after the company reported its first profit in more than five years.
Used car retailer CarMax reported strong quarterly results, sending shares higher in early trading.
Bed Bath & Beyond shares slipped after the retailer offered weak guidance when it reported quarterly results late Wednesday.
Also late Wednesday, Google announced it will sell its Motorola Mobility Home division, which includes cable set-top boxes and modems, to Arris for $2.35 billion U.S. Arris stock rose about 7%, while Google ticked slightly higher.
After the closing bell Thursday, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion will announce its quarterly results. Nike will also release its latest earnings.
After making progress earlier this week, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner butted heads Wednesday, ahead of the year-end deadline for an agreement on tax hikes and spending cuts.
Lawmakers in the House will vote Thursday on Plan B, a GOP version of an agreement on the fiscal cliff. The White House has already threatened to veto that plan, saying it would bring only "minimal" changes in projected budget deficits.
While failing to resolve the fiscal cliff could tip the economy back into recession, some investors have accepted that the talks will probably continue into early next year.
Economically speaking, the government released its final estimate of third-quarter GDP growth: a 3.1% annual rate, much faster than the 1.3% rate in the second quarter. In other economic news, jobless claims rose by 17,000 to
Existing home sales rose 5.9% in November to an annual rate of 5.04 million, according to the National Association of Realtors. It was the highest sales rate since November 2009.
Treasury prices regained some ground, lowering yields on the 10-year note to 1.79% from Wednesday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil was down 19 cents to $89.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dumped $28.90 to $1,638.80 U.S. an ounce.
