Bay Street stocks tilted slightly lower in Wednesday afternoon trading, following sharp gains from the prior session. Resource stocks are leading the gainers.
Shortly before the closing bell, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was off 23.52 points at 10,994.58.
Mining stocks jumped, however, including Inmet, which added 3.9% to $49.00, FNX Mining gained 4.5% to $9.50 and Teck Resources was up 1.1% to $29.41.
Materials stocks were in the black as Agrium gained 2.4% to $51.90. The fertilizer maker announced that its second-quarter net earnings were $370 million U.S. or $2.35 U.S. per share, compared to $636 million U.S. or $4.00 U.S. per share, for the same quarter of 2008. Analysts expected the company to report earnings of $1.81 U.S. per share for the quarter.
Gold stocks went south, though, including Yamana Gold, which dropped 2.4% to $10.42 after it reported adjusted second quarter net earnings of $95.8 million U.S. or $0.13 U.S. per share, down from $102.7 million U.S. or $0.15 U.S. per share in the year-ago quarter.
Randgold Resources said that it has entered into a business combination with Moto Goldmines Ltd. Moto terminated an existing arrangement agreement with Red Back Mining and initiated payment of termination fee of $15.25 million. Following the news, Moto shares were down 3.8% to $4.81, while Red Back jumped 5.5% to $10.78.
North American Energy Partners was up 2.4% at $6.24 after the company reported first-quarter net income of $14.77 million, compared to $19.10 million in the same quarter of last year. On a per-share basis, net income for the quarter was $0.40, compared to $0.52 in the year-ago quarter.
Fortis Inc. was down 0.6% to $25.60 after the company reported second-quarter net income applicable to common shares of $53 million or $0.31 per share, compared to $29 million or $0.18 per share in the same quarter last year.
Labopharm was up 4% to $2.10 after the company announced that it has filed a New Drug Submission or NDS with the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Health Canada for its novel formulation of the antidepressant trazodone.
Total Energy Services Inc. slipped 1.2% to $4.00 after the company reported that its second-quarter net loss was $1.2 million or $0.04 per share, compared to net earnings of $797,000 or $0.02 per share in the year-ago quarter.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.34 cents to 93.48 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight ended the day lower. Gold lost 1% of its lustre, followed by health-care stocks, off 0.9%, and energy, down 0.8%.
Of the six gaining groups, real-estate and metals and mining were in a dead heat, picking up 1.7%, while global base metals tacked on 0.7%.
The TSX Venture Exchange stepped ahead 2.39 points, to 1,198.37, while the Nasdaq Canada Index strengthened 10.28 points to 781.40.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks lost ground Wednesday as investors became cautious in the wake of some weaker-than-expected economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 39.22 points to end the day at 9,280.97. The S&P 500 index fell 2.95 points to 1,002.70. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite had fallen 18.26 points, to 1,993.05, from Tuesday’s 10-month high.
The retreat reverses Wall Street's recent run, which has been spurred by better-than-expected second-quarter corporate results and signs of economic stabilization. Last month was the strongest July for the Dow and S&P 500 in two decades.
While most companies have managed to beat expectations during the latest quarterly reporting period, those impressive numbers were largely a result of cost cutting and low expectations. Two reports on Wednesday showed that the labor market continues to face challenges and that recovery on the employment front will be slow
Paycheck processor ADP said the economy shed 371,000 jobs in July. Although the pace of job cuts is slowing, the number was higher than expected and points to continuing challenges facing the economy.
Earlier this morning, outplacement firm Challenger said companies' planned job cuts rose 31% in July, indicating problems in the employment sector are far from over.
The reports come ahead of the U.S. Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which will be released on Friday.
The Labor Department is expected to show that the economy shed 328,000 jobs in July, less than the 467,000 reported for June, according to a consensus estimate of economists compiled by Briefing.com. The unemployment rate is predicted to rise to 9.6% from 9.5%.
The morning's economic data was mixed.
One report showed that the U.S. services sector contracted more than expected in July. The Institute for Supply Management's services index fell to 46.4 -- down from 47 in June -- and shy of economists' forecast of 48. Any reading under 50 indicates the sector is contracting.
Meanwhile, a report from the Commerce Department showed a surprise uptick in demand for U.S.-made manufactured goods. Factory orders increased 0.4% in June, while economists were bracing for a decline of 0.8% according to analysts' consensus on Briefing.com.
Consumer goods firm Procter & Gamble reported profits slightly higher than expected, although revenue declined as consumers moved away from its high-end product lines. Shares of Procter & Gamble lost 3%.
Kraft Foods reported an 11% jump in profit after U.S. markets closed Tuesday. Shares of Kraft ended nearly unchanged Wednesday.
Shares of Whole Foods surged 16% after the gourmet food retailer turned a better-than-expected profit and a 2% rise in sales during its fiscal third quarter.
Shares of bailed out insurance giant American International Group, AIG surged more 63% as the company brought on a new CEO, former MetLife chief Bob Benmosche. AIG is set to report its quarterly results Friday before the opening bell.
Treasury prices slipped a bit, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil gained back 55 cents to $71.82 U.S.
Gold prices were down $3 to $966 U.S. an ounce.
