The Toronto stock exchange traded lower Friday, led by weakness in financial and gold stocks, as the uncertainty about U.S. budget discussions weighed on investors.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 57.65 points at 12,316.12.
A person familiar with the details says President Barack Obama is not making a new 'fiscal cliff' offer at his high-stakes meeting with congressional leaders at the White House.
Obama instead is spelling out again a plan he says can pass the House and Senate, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak publicly about the private meeting.
Obama wants a bill to halt looming tax increases on all families making $250,000 a year or less and would extend unemployment insurance to many people about to lose it.
The economic calendar in the U.S. on Friday included Chicago-area business conditions (PMI report) and pending home sales.
The National Association of Realtors reported pending home sales climbed for a third month in November, with its index up 1.7% to 106.4, the highest level since April 2010.
The loonie, meanwhile was down 0.07 of a cent to a one-month low of 100.35 cents US.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 5.09 points to 1,201.84.
Thirteen of the Toronto subgroups were trading in the red. Gold issues were off 0.92%, industrial stocks fell 0.80% and financials slid 0.50%.
On the upside -- consumer discretionary issues rose 0.13%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks extend losses into a fifth session on worries that talks between the White House and Congress may not yield a break in the U.S. budget impasse.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 158.20 points, or 1.2%, at 12,938.11, off 1.9% from the week-ago close.
The S&P 500 Index shed 15.67 points, or 1.1%, at 1,402.43, leaving it with a weekly decline of 1.9%.
The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 25.59 points, or 0.9%, at 2,960.31, down 2% for the week.
Shares of all companies in the 30-member Dow fell, with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) declining the most, at 2.56%. Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) were the only other Dow stocks to drop more about 2%.
Shares of Barnes & Noble (BKS) rose 6% after British publisher Pearson (PSO) announced that it would invest $90 million for a 5% stake in the retailer's Nook unit.
Apple saw shares drop 0.73% after a Chinese court fined the tech giant USD160,400 for hosting third-party applications on its App Store that were selling pirated electronic books, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note stayed steady at 1.70%.
Oil and gold prices were modestly lower.
