Equities in Toronto were flat at the beginning of trade Wednesday as the cloud of uncertainty over the Italian elections continued to hover.
The S&P/TSX composite index inched up 2.05 points to begin Wednesday at 12,662.49
The Canadian dollar was off 0.11 at 97.38 cents U.S.
Sears Canada Inc. reports it had $39.9 million of net earnings in the fourth quarter or 39 cents per share, little changed from the year-earlier period. However, revenue and same-store sales declined during the important holiday shopping period as total revenue fell to just under $1.3 billion, down about $60 million from a year earlier. Sears stock sank 35 cents to $8.95 a share.
Elsewhere, Toronto-based mining company Sherritt International announced after markets closed Tuesday that the quarterly dividend will rise, but the company released fourth-quarter results early Wednesday that missed analyst estimates.
Sherritt reported it had a $17.3-million net loss, or six cents per share, in the fourth quarter. After adjusting to remove certain items, Sherritt had $6.2 million of net earnings or three cents per share. Analysts had estimated 11 cents per share of net income and six cents per share of adjusted earnings. Sherritt shares shed 19 cents to $5.51
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 1.41 points to 1,133.32
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups gained ground early on, with health-care and telecoms vying for top gainer status, each tacking on 0.6%, while industrials were better by 0.5%.
The half-dozen gainers were weighed mostly by gold, off 1.7%, while materials were down 0.8%, and the metals and mining group faded 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Investors were taking a breather early Wednesday, after two wild days of trading
The Dow Jones Industrial Average grew 69.50 points to at 13,969.60
The S&P 500 index added 4.08 points to 1,501.02 The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite prospered 14.43 points to 3,144.08.
Firms including retailer TJX are scheduled to report quarterly results in the morning, while Sturm Ruger ,Groupon and J.C. Penney are up after the bell.
Shares of Priceline rose after the online travel site beat profit forecasts.
Stocks rebounded Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled the central bank's easy money policies will remain in force. That came a day after the Dow and S&P 500 suffered their worst one-day declines of the year.
The tone was more subdued Wednesday as investors responded to a report on new orders for long-lasting goods and a successful bond auction by the shaky Italian government.
In Washington, Bernanke will be back on Capital Hill to give testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.
Investors will pay close attention to Q&A portion of the testimony, since Bernanke's written testimony is verbatim to what he delivered Tuesday, notes Marc Chandler of Brown Brothers Harriman.
On Tuesday, Bernanke urged lawmakers to prevent $85 billion U.S. in automatic spending cuts set to take effect Friday under the so-called budget sequester. He said the cuts would be a "significant" burden to the already tepid economy.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Census Bureau said durable goods orders dropped $11.8 billion, or 5.2%, in January. This was a steeper decline that the decrease of 3.5% projected by a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
The Dreamliner issues with Boeing and the drying up of defense spending appear to have played a role. Excluding transportation, new orders would have increased 1.9%.
Prices on the 10-year U.S. Treasury picked up more ground, dropping yields to 1.86% from Tuesday’s 1.88%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 26 cents to $92.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slipped $9.80 to $1,605.70 U.S. an ounce.
