Toronto stocks stabilized in Monday afternoon trading but remained notably lower. Mining and industrial stocks are leading the decliners.
The S&P TSX Composite index had shed 114.4 points -- a full percentage point -- to end the day at 10,863.73.
Mining stocks were down as copper fell on the Comex. First Quantum dropped 4.2% to $64.19, Teck Resources dropped 4.3% to $26.38 and Inmet gave back 2.8% to $47.45.
Industrials also went south, as Canadian Pacific dropped 4.2% to $52.38 after the stock was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at UBS. Rival Canadian National Railway declined 2.2% to $52.84.
On the corporate front, Torstar subsided 2% to $6.37 after the shares were downgraded to Underperform from Sector Perform at National Bank.
Toronto Dominion erased early losses and moved 0.4% higher to $62.67. The stock was upgraded to Outperform from Sector Perform at RBC Capital Markets and to Sector Perform from Sector Underperform at Scotia Capital.
In economic news, Canada's real gross domestic product increased 0.1% as expected in June, the first monthly increase since July 2008, according to official data released by Stats Canada on Monday. For the second quarter as a whole, real GDP decreased 0.9%, a less pronounced rate of decline than the 1.6% drop in the previous quarter.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.26 cents, to 91.34 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups lost ground, metals and mining stocks losing the most, at 3.3%, global base metals off 2.5% and industrials were down 2.3%.
Financials managed to sneak into the black before the closing bell by 0.1%.
The TSX Venture Exchange slumped 13.47 points, to 1,175.24, while the Nasdaq Canada Index skidded 7.32 to 727.54.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks fell Monday, despite some upbeat corporate and economic news, after a big drop in Chinese shares heightened concerns that U.S. markets have risen too far, too fast.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows of the day, but was still in the red at day’s end by 47.92 points to 9,496.28.The S&P 500 index backtracked 8.30 points to 1,020.63. The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index dipped 19.71 points to 2,009.06.
Bank stocks, which have led the market higher in recent sessions, came under pressure. Citigroup was down 4.5%, while Morgan Stanley lost about 3.5%. Troubled insurance giant AIG fell 10%.
Oil prices sank, falling below $70 a barrel. That dragged on shares of oil services firms Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Industrial names such as Boeing and Caterpillar also fell sharply.
September is historically a bad month for stocks and market participants are bracing for a possible pullback following a surprisingly strong summer advance.
Between the March 9 lows and Friday's close, the S&P 500 gained 52%, as investors responded to stronger corporate results and improved economic data. However, analysts say more concrete signs of economic growth are now necessary to keep the rally going.
Walt Disney said it would acquire comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment for approximately $4 billion U.S. Shares of Marvel surged 25%.
In other deals, oilfield services company Baker Hughes said that it would purchase rival BJ Services in a cash-and-stock deal worth approximately $5.5 billion U.S.
A report showed manufacturing activity in the Midwest was stronger than expected during August.
The Chicago PMI rose to 50.0 in August from 43.4 in July. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a reading of 47.2.
Investors are looking toward a number of economic reports later in the week. Among them: auto sales for August on Tuesday, manufacturing activity data on Wednesday and the widely watched monthly employment report on Friday.
Treasury prices vaulted, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.40% from Friday’s 3.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil finished down by $2.78 to $69.71 U.S.
Gold prices sank $5 at $954 U.S. an ounce.
