Bay Street stocks remained notably lower on Tuesday and endured its first losing session in four. Weakness in the resource sectors contributed to the weakness, which follows the pattern of U.S. and European stocks
The S&P/TSX Composite Index collapsed 186.89 points, or 1.5%, to 10,570.54.
Gold and materials stocks were both down, as Goldcorp slid 5.7% to $39.20, Iamgold was down 5.3% to $11.29 and Agnico-Eagle Mines dropped 4.9% to $58.56.
Energy stocks tumbled as crude oil dropped on the NYMEX. Encana slipped 2.8% to $57.01 and Suncor was down 1.7% at $34.95.
Canadian Oil Sands declined 0.4% at $26.94 after the company reported net income for the second quarter of $46 million or $0.10 per unit, compared with $497 million or $1.04 per unit a year ago.
Nexen lost 1% to $22.25 after the company said it priced and agreed to issue $1.0 billion U.S. of senior notes, consisting of $300 million U.S. principal amount of 6.20% senior notes due July 30, 2019 and $700 million U.S. principal amount of 7.50% senior notes due July 30, 2039.
In other corporate news, Rogers Communications slid 1.2% to $31.86 after the wireless giant predicted fiscal 2009 revenue growth of 2% to 4%, compared with its prior estimate range of 5% to 9%. The company's net income for the quarter increased to $374 million or $0.59 per share, from $301 million or $0.47 per share reported in the same quarter of last year.
Inmet was down 1.9% to $44.75 after paring an earlier slump. The company said its second-quarter net income decreased to $66.5 million or $1.37 per share from $67.7 million or $1.40 per share in the prior year period.
QLT dropped 5.1% to $3.55 after the company reported second-quarter net income of $8.63 million U.S., or $0.16 U.S. per share, compared with a net loss of $7.44 million U.S., or $0.10 U.S. per share, a year ago.
Accord Financial Corp. was unchanged at $6.10 after the company reported a second quarter net earnings of $494,000 or $0.05 per share, compared to $1.8 million or $0.18 per share in the previous year quarter.
BioMS Medical Corp. plunged 85.2% to 40 cents after the pharmaceutical company and its partner Eli Lilly and Co. said that dirucotide did not meet the primary endpoint of delaying disease progression during the two-year MAESTRO-01 Phase III trial in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.
Cardiome Pharma Corp. grew 5.2% to $4.62 after the company said that it has earned a $15-million-U.S. milestone payment from its collaboration with Merck Co., Inc. through an affiliate.
Magna International fell 3.5% to $52.39 as Bloomberg reported a German official said the company boosted its offer for Opel.
On the economic front, 778,700 Canadians received unemployment benefits in May, up 9.2% from April. This marks the highest number since records were first kept in 1997.
The Canadian dollar trailed off 0.12 cents to 92.40 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower on the day. Gold suffered 4.1%, materials were next at 3.3% and metals and mining stocks lost 1.7%.
Only health-care stocks managed to salvage something, gaining 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange was down 18.93 points, to 1,128.11, while the Nasdaq Canada Index lagged 8.38 points to 750.20
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks ended mixed Tuesday as investors weighed a weaker-than-expected consumer confidence report and a better-than-expected housing report in the aftermath of a big rally.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 11.79 points to close at 9,096.72. The S&P 500 index moved 2.56 points lower to 979.62. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite turned back in the black by 7.62 points, to 1,975.51.
Stocks have gained for the last two weeks, as investors have breathed a sigh of relief that second-quarter results have been mostly better than expected. The Dow and S&P 500 have added around 11.5% and the Nasdaq has gained 12%.
But after such a big run in a short period of time, stocks have become vulnerable.
Consumer confidence slipped for the second straight month, the Conference Board reported, as growing joblessness and a prolonged recession took a toll on investor psychology. The index dipped to 46.6 in July from 49.3 in June. Economists thought the index would dip to 49, according to a Briefing.com survey.
On a more positive note, a key measure of home prices showed its first monthly increase in three years. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 0.5% in May. The index dropped 17.1% versus a year ago, short of forecasts for a bigger drop of 17.9%. It was the fourth month in a row that the pace of declines lessened.
On Monday, another report showed sales of new homes rose more than expected in May.
Among the companies reporting results on Tuesday, Valero Energy reported weaker revenue and earnings that topped estimates. Shares fell 3.6%.
It was one of several oil services companies tumbling, along with the price of crude.
Dow components Chevron and Exxon Mobil both declined modestly.
In other company news, Bank of America shares gained after the company said it plans to reduce some of its 6,100-branch network. Reports said it planned to cut as much as 10% of the network, but the bank said the figure was smaller.
In deal news, IBM said it will buy Chicago-based business software maker SPSS in an all-cash deal worth $50 U.S. per share or $1.2 billion U.S.
Sprint Nextel will buy the remaining 87% of Virgin Mobil it doesn't already own in an all-stock deal worth $5.50 U.S. per share or $483 million U.S.
Media conglomerate Viacom reported weaker quarterly profit that nonetheless topped expectations. Shares were little changed.
This week is the biggest for corporate results, with 146 of the S&P 500 due to release reports. So far, 77% of reported earnings have topped forecasts, versus the long-term average of 61%, according to earnings tracker Thomson Reuters.
Treasury prices were ahead on the day, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil went down $1.15 to $67.25 U.S.
Gold prices dove $15 to $942 U.S. an ounce.
