The TSX was down Wednesday afternoon after slightly narrowing midday losses, with health-care and industrials falling deeper into the negative territory and utilities taking a turn for the worse.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 62.43 points to close Wednesday at 14,980.72
The Canadian dollar gained 0.36 cents to 83.57 cents U.S.
Health-care was the biggest negative influence among sectors, with Extendicare plummeting 32 cents, or 4.1%, to $7.48, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals dropping $3.99, or 1.5%, to $263.64.
Among industrials, Badger Daylighting slumped 95 cents, or 3.2%, to $28.68.
In resources, metals and mining further declined, as Teck Resources stumbled 39 cents, or 2.3%, to $16.86.
Energy producers retreated, most notably Trican Well Services, which slumbered 79 cents, or 15.6%, to $4.26. Connacher Oil and Gas was the most actively traded stock, dipping half a cent, or 25%, to 1.5 cents, on 17.3 million shares.
Gold stocks evened things out somewhat, as Semafo Ltd. shares bolted higher by 28 cents, or 7.8%, to $3.85, and Iamgold gained 17 cents, or 6.4%, to $2.84.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 1.29 points to 693.11
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative by the close, with health-care sliding 1.9%, industrials tumbling 1.2%, and metals and mining 1% to the bad.
The four gainers were led by gold, up 2%, materials, up 0.7%, and utilities, eking out a gain of 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed narrowly mixed on Wednesday as investors remained wary of climbing bond yields and the lack of indications for a strong second-quarter rebound in the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 7.74 points to 18,060.49, with UnitedHealth and Intel leading gains and DuPont the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 index slid 0.66 points to 2,098.46, with utilities the greatest of six laggards and information technology leading advancers.
The NASDAQ gained 5.50 points to 4,981.69
DuPont closed down 6.7% after the firm won a proxy fight against activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management.
Major earnings included fashion retailers Macy's and Ralph Lauren before market open. JC Penney and Cisco were expected after the bell.
Macy's posted earnings that missed expectations, citing negative factors of West Coast port issues, winter weather and decreased spending by international tourists. The firm increased its dividend by 15% and raised its share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion U.S.
Owens-Illinois announced it is buying the food and beverage glass container business of Mexico's Vitro for $2.15 billion U..S. in cash. Vitro is the largest supplier of glass containers in Mexico.
Deutsche Bank upgraded Microsoft to "buy" from "hold," saying lower estimates and a slower PC market are already reflected in the stock, and that there's new investor enthusiasm about Office 365 and other products.
Retail sales data for April was flat, with the ex-autos figure up just 0.1%, below estimates of a 0.5% gain. Expectations were for the data to show modest growth, partly due to the warmer weather.
Besides retail sales, business inventories for March showed a gain of 0.1%, just shy of the expected 0.2%
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries slumped, raising yields to 2.29% from Tuesday’s 2.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 69 cents a barrel to $60.06 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $22.30 to $1,214.70 U.S.
