The Toronto stock market was slightly lower Wednesday after oil prices moved closer to the $50 U.S. a barrel mark in the wake of data that suggested China's economy is slowing.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 7.60 points to end the day, month and year at 14,632.44
The Canadian dollar slid 0.05 cents to 86.08 cents U.S.
Elsewhere on the commodity markets, March copper gave back a cent to $2.84 U.S. a pound and the base metals sector slid. Teck Resources dipped seven cents to $15.88
Stocks to watch included Bombardier Inc. The transport giant has inked a deal to sell five Q400 NextGen aircraft for $160 million U.S. to airline leasing company GE Capital Aviation Services. Bombardier shares gained seven cents to $4.15.
The Toronto market looks set to end 2014 with a gain of around 7%. That's about half the advance that the TSX had racked up by mid-summer, supported by a huge runup in the energy sector as crude prices came close to the $110 U.S. a barrel level.
Since then, oil prices have collapsed -- they're down more than 50% from June partly because of lower demand from weaker economies such as China and Europe.
But analysts say the major issue is one of supply, made worse by OPEC's refusal last month to cut back on production in order to support prices.
The energy sector has fallen more than 20% as investors wonder how low oil prices can go. Suncor shares docked 19 cents to $36.90, while Imperial Oil fell 25 cents to $50.05
Miners were also a major weight with the base metals group down 14% this year.
Bright spots include financials, up 9% for the year. Today, TD took on seven cents to $55.51, while Royal Bank of Canada retreated 19 cents to $20.24.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 8.41 points to 695.53.
Eight of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower Wednesday, with real-estate backing off 0.6%, telecoms down 0.4%, and global base metals fell 0.3%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by consumer staples, up 0.7%, utilities, hiking 0.5%, and metals and mining, growing 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded much lower on Wednesday, but remained on track to post gains of about 8% or more for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 160 points to end the year at 17,823.07, with AT&T and Cisco the greatest laggards and Home Depot and IBM leading three blue-chip advancers.
Briefly rising more than 1.5%, Home Depot led gains on the Dow in low volume trade.
The S&P 500 dropped 21.45 points to 2,058.90, with utilities falling more than 1% to lead declines across all 10 sectors. Cisco and AT&T led blue-chip declines.
The NASDAQ index plummeted 41.39 points to 4,736.05, pressured by a 1% decline in Apple. The stock is on track to post its first yearly decline in iPad sales since the device was introduced, according to a report from market research firm ABI Research.
But the report also said Apple should reverse that trend in 2015, with overall tablet sales rising 16%.
The utilities sector is the year's best performer—but yesterday's worst. 2014's best performing utility stocks include Integrys Energy, Edison International, Entergy, and Pepco Holdings.
On the economic front, the Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index for December came out at 58.3, below expectations.
Pending home sales rose just 0.8% in November from a downwardly revised October reading.
Weekly initial jobless claims numbers came in a bit higher than expected at 298,000.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.17% from Tuesday’s 2.19%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 35 cents per barrel to $53.77 U.S.
Gold prices swooned $18.40 an ounce at $1,182 U.S.
