The Toronto stock market lost traction Thursday, weighed down by U.S. economic concerns and uncertainty over how BlackBerry's new smartphones will be received by consumers.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index erased 108.88 points to break for lunch Thursday at 12,685.56
The Canadian dollar moved higher 0.24 cents, back above parity with its American counterpart at 100.10 cents U.S.
In equity news, the company formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd. again weighed on the TSX, a day after the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 product lineup. Its stock was down a further $1.01, or 7.3%, to $12.85 on the TSX after tumbling almost 12% Wednesday.
Availability is an issue as analysts note that U.S. customers won't be able to get the BlackBerry Z10 until March, a month later than it's available in Canada.
In recent weeks, RIM stock had soared 200% from its 52-week low of $6.10 of last September in anticipation over the new product, seen as a make or break effort by the company. RIM's BlackBerry has lost market share to Apple's iPhone and the Galaxy brand of smartphones from Samsung.
Potash Corp. was also in focus after it reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell to $421 million U.S., or 48 cents per share, missing analyst estimates by nine cents a share.
The result includes a $41-million U.S. charge related to the settlement of antitrust claims in the United States as well as substantially lower revenue as customers delayed their buying decisions amid economic uncertainty. Revenue was $1.64 billion, down from $1.86 billion a year earlier, and also below analyst estimates and its stock was down $1.06 to $42.13.
The gold sector was also pressured on the TSX, as Barrick Gold Corp. faded 50 cents to $31.97.
The energy sector was down with Canadian Natural Resources fell 58 cents to $30.59.
The April copper contract was down a cent at $3.74 U.S. after running ahead six cents on Wednesday. The base metals component was down and First Quantum Minerals gave back 31 cents to $20.22.
Financials also weakened with Manulife Financial down 12 cents to $14.51.
Among Thursday’s economic data, Statistics Canada reported that the economy forged slightly ahead in November, growing 0.3%, adding on a 0.1% hike in October, The nation’s number crunchers noted that most major industrial sectors increased production in November.
StatsCan also said that lower crude oil prices resulted in a raw materials price index sinking 2% in December, while industrial product prices were flat compared to October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 1.92 points to 1,220.43
All 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, weighed mostly by information technology, off 1.7%, gold, down 1.6%, and materials weaker by 1.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks went south Thursday as investors considered mixed economic news and lackluster corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34.83 points by noon to 13,875.60
The S&P 500 backtracked 4.17 points to 1,497.79. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite handed back 1.45 points to 3,140.85
The downward trading comes on the final day of a strong month.
The Dow is up more than 6% so far in January, and is just 2% shy of its record high, reached in October 2007. The S&P 500 has climbed 5% this month, and is only 5% away from its all-time high from the same year. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq, which is a far cry from its all time high, has gained 4% this month.
In corporate news Thursday, shares of UPS declined after the shipping giant's fourth-quarter earnings came in below of forecasts. The company's guidance for 2013 was also weaker-than-expected.
Shares of Dow Chemical also declined on an earnings miss.
Facebook shares dropped after the firm said late Wednesday that its fourth-quarter mobile user growth had slowed slightly versus the third quarter. Facebook's fourth-quarter earnings and sales beat Wall Street estimates.
Of the 200 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 136 have beat analysts' estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ. Overall, earnings are expected to be up 5.1% for the quarter.
PulteGroup reported a four-fold increase in quarterly earnings and said new orders jumped 27%. Despite the strong results, shares of Pulte fell 4%, weighing down shares of other home builders. Hovnanian and Lennar were also under pressure.
On the economic front, the U.S. government reported a jump in initial jobless claims following two weeks of declines. Claims rose 38,000 to 368,000 in the latest week. Analysts were expecting 345,000 claims.
Separately, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported the number of planned job cuts surged 24% to 40,430 in January.
Those figures are worrying ahead of the all-important monthly jobs report due Friday. Analysts are expecting that employers added 180,000 jobs in January, and that the unemployment rate ticked down to 7.7% from 7.8% in December.
Meanwhile, personal income in December rose 2.6%, while spending inched up 0.2%, according to the Commerce Department.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 2.00% from Wednesday 2.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 75 cents to $97.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted $16 to $1,663.90 U.S. an ounce.
