Equities in Toronto fell on Thursday as investors digested comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve and shares of energy producers dropped with the price of oil.
The S&P/TSX composite index remained negative 75.09 points to greet noon at 14,887.15
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.91 cents to 78.53 cents U.S.
Shares of health-care stocks such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals gained $3.03, or 1.2%, to $258.74.
Shares of banks and insurers fell. Toronto Dominion Bank was down 0.7% at $53.63, and Sun Life Financial Inc lost 0.9%to $39.83.
In the energy sector, Canadian Natural Resources gave back 1.6% to $37.12 and Suncor Energy dropped 1% to $35.58
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 0.36 points to 666.00
Nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower by lunch hour, weighed by energy, down 2.3%, global base metals, down 1.7%, and consumer staples, off 0.6%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, up 0.7%, information technology, ahead 0.6%, and gold, picking up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mostly lower on Thursday as investors weighed the Federal Reserve statement that indicated a rate hike would come gradually.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 117.56 points to 17,958.63,
The S&P 500 subtracted 12.21 points to 2,087.29,
The NASDAQ index added 4.41 points to 4,987.24
Apple officially began trading as a member of the Dow Jones industrial average, replacing AT&T in the index as Visa's four-for-one stock split took effect.
Tesla traded lower as CEO Elon Musk announced updates to the Model S during a Thursday press conference.
Guess surged more than 15% on better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit. Expenses fell and online sales rose.
Lennar posted better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, indicating some pickup in the housing market heading into the spring.
The second-largest U.S. homebuilder by the number of homes sold said deliveries rose 20% in the first quarter and average selling price rose to $326,000 from $316,000 U.S.
Vince reported earnings that beat forecasts on revenue that missed. The high-end clothing firm reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $10.5 million U.S.
Nike is due to report after the bell.
Weekly jobless claims rose slightly to 291,000 for the week ended March 14. The national current account deficit sharply widened in the fourth quarter to the largest level since 2012.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell a bit, raising yields to 1.96% from Wednesday’s 1.95%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded 94 cents to $43.72 U.S.
Gold prices gained $18.70 to $1,170.00 U.S.
