The Toronto stock market had a broad and deep decline Thursday on a disappointing read on Chinese manufacturing and the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest indication that it may be time to wind down economic stimulus.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ditched 198.31 points, or 1.6%, to greet noon at 12,069.98
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.99 cents to 96.36 cents U.S.
The base metals sector lost much ground while July copper on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost seven cents to $3.07 U.S. a pound.
Teck Resources fell 99 cents to $22.11 while HudBay Minerals dropped 93 cents, or 12.3%, to $6.66.
The gold sector took a pounding also, as Goldcorp Inc. faded $1.38 to $15.16 while Barrick Gold Corp. declined 90 cents to $17.65.
The energy sector was down as Canadian Natural Resources gave back 65 cents to $29.49.
The utilities sector gave back strength while TransAlta Corp. declined 25 cents to $13.14.
The telecom sector shed strength and BCE Inc. was down 82 cents to $43.30.
Bank stocks also contributed to the dismal showing on the TSX with Royal Bank down 68 cents to $60.01.
In corporate news, home improvement chain Rona Inc. is selling its commercial and professional division to EMCO subsidiary Talisker Plumbing Corp. for $215 million.
The division, which specializes in plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, was created when Rona acquired commercial trades supplier Noble in 2007. Rona shares slipped two cents to $10.22.
On the economic track, Statistics Canada reported that the number of people receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in April was virtually unchanged at 521,600. Compared with a year earlier, the number of beneficiaries in April was down 4.7%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange swooned 25.45 points to 904.75
All 14 Toronto subgroups stayed negative, weighed mostly by gold, down 5.4%, materials, skidding 4.4%, and the metals and mining group, dipping 4.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered some of the most explicit guidance to date Wednesday about when the central bank could begin tempering its stimulus policies. But investors hearkened to the speech by selling their stocks in droves.
The Dow Jones Industrials was in the red 191.31 points, or 1.3%, to 14,920.90, after a similar 200-point-plus flop Wednesday.
The S&P 500 index fell 21.41 points to 1,607.52. The tech-rich NASDAQ Composite dumped 48.42 points to 3,394.78
Depending on how the economy performs, Bernanke said the Fed could begin tapering its bond buying later this year and end the program some time in 2014.
At the same time, he stressed that if economic growth or hiring fall short of the central bank's outlook, the Fed would adjust its policies.
While this is what most economists had predicted, investors seemed surprised to hear Bernanke spell it out in such detail.
On the corporate front, drugstore chain Rite Aid swung to a profit but revenue declined in the latest quarter.
Tech giant Oracle is up in the afternoon.
The sharp drop in gold prices weighed on shares of mining companies, including Newmont Mining and Freeport-McMoRan
In economic news, the government said the number of jobless claims rose more than expected in the latest week. A measure of manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia area surged to a two year high in June.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales in May rose 4.2% to an annual rate of 5.18 million, slightly better than expected.
Despite the housing data, shares of home builders were among the worst performers. PulteGroup, D.R. Horton and Lennar were all down sharply.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, boosting yields to 2.40% from Wednesday’s 2.31%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped $2.82 to $95.42 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices collapsed $80.20 to $1,293.80 U.S. an ounce
