Stocks in Toronto lost more ground early Wednesday, ahead of an afternoon statement from the U.S. Federal Reserve which is expected to show the central bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates.
The S&P/TSX composite index moved earthward 64.49 points to open Wednesday’s trading session at 15,281.58, after a narrow gain on Tuesday
The Canadian dollar gained 0.31 cents to 83.41 cents U.S.
All sectors were negative in the first hour, with tech stocks particularly hard hit. Open Text Corp. suffered a loss of $5.75, or 8.6%, to $60.90, while Wi-Lan shares got bruised 18 cents, or 5.7%, to $3.00
Also in the red were metals stocks such as Taseko Mines doffed four cents, or 4.2%, to 91 cents, while Orbite Aluminae fell a penny, or 3.9%, to 25 cents.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada’s industrial product price index nicked up 0.3% in March, largely as a result of higher prices for energy and petroleum products, while its raw materials price index dropped 0.3%, during the same month, mainly because of lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 0.93 points to 696.15
All 14 Toronto subgroups were negative in the early going, as information technology shed 2.4%, global base metals lost 1.5%, and the metals and mining sector shed 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded mildly lower on Wednesday as investors weighed a weaker-than-expected Gross Domestic Product report and earnings reports ahead of the Fed statement release.
The Dow Jones Industrials docked 51.22 points early Wednesday to 18,058.92, with Pfizer the greatest laggard and Visa and Apple the only advancers.
The S&P 500 index slid 9.15 points to 2,105.61, with utilities leading all 10 sectors lower.
The NASDAQ index shed 14.17 points to 5,041.25.
MasterCard, the world's number-two debit and credit card company, reported a 17% rise in quarterly profit as people spent more using its cards and the company paid lower taxes.
Time Warner reported adjusted quarterly profit of $1.19 U.S. per share, 10 cents above estimates, with revenue also above forecasts. The company was helped by "March Madness" programming related to the annual NCAA college basketball tournament.
U.S. Steel posted an adjusted quarterly loss of seven cents U.S. per share, surprising Street analysts who had expected a 12-cent-per-share profit. Revenue also missed estimates, as U.S. Steel said it has been hurt by significant steel imports. The company also lowered its earnings outlook for the full year
Twitter is on watch today after it plunged more than 20% following the premature release of its quarterly earnings report yesterday. Twitter is investigating how the report got released early, but the numbers disappointed investors with revenue falling short of Street estimates.
The advance estimate of first quarter GDP showed an increase of 0.2%, a sharp slowdown from the fourth quarter's 2.2% pace and below expectations of 1 percent growth. The government cited the strong dollar and the West Coast port strikes as negative factors.
Pending home sales data for March showed an increase of 1.1%, the fastest rate since last summer.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries sagged, lifting yields to 2.04% from Tuesday’s 2%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices faded 19 cents to $56.87 U.S.
Gold prices slid $5.20 to $1,208.70 U.S.
