Stocks in Toronto lurched lower on Wednesday, helped by gains among banks, railways and telecom stocks, while a fall in the price of oil and other commodities pushed energy and mining shares lower.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 100.01 points to greet noon at 13,741.91
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.77 cents at 76.28 cents U.S.
The most influential gainers included telecom company BCE, which rose 1.3% to $58.31, and Canadian National Railway, which advanced 1.2% to $79.54.
The financials group climbed, with Toronto-Dominion Bank rising 0.9% to $53.64, and Royal Bank of Canada advanced 1.1% to $75.18.
Prices for copper and iron ore are being pressured by weak demand from China.
Technology company Celestica Inc fell 13.3% to $14.77 after its earnings and outlook missed expectations.
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc continued its recent slide, hurtling earthward 26.5% to $140.36.
The Bank of Canada Wednesday stayed put with its benchmark interest rate at 0.5%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 4.85 points to 545.95
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups were higher, with consumer staples ahead 1%, financials and telecoms up 0.8%.
The five laggards were weighed most by an 8.8% descent by health-care issues, while gold dimmed 2.3%, and materials slid 1.6%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities were mildly higher Wednesday, as investors took in fresh corporate earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average recovered 81.17 points to 17,298.28, led by Travelers and with UnitedHealth Group as the greatest laggard.
The S&P 500 moved higher 2.94 points to 2,033.71, with industrials leading seven sectors higher and health care the greatest laggard.
The NASDAQ index lost 0.66 points to 4,880.31
Companies that posted quarterly results included Coca-Cola, Boeing, and General Motors. Boeing and GM beat expectations on both earnings and revenue, but Coca-Cola sales fell short of estimates.
Shares of GM rose about 5%, while Boeing's stock rose over 1.5% in choppy trade. Coca-Cola's stock gained slightly after initially trading lower.
Firms scheduled to report after the bell include American Express, eBay and Raymond James.
In corporate news, Ferrari opened for trading at $60 U.S. a share, about 15% above its $52 U.S. pricing.
SanDisk will be bought by Western Digital for $86.50 U.S. a share in cash and stock, or $19 billion.
Morgan Stanley downgraded Twitter's stock to "underweight" from "equal-weight," citing limited user growth and a lack of advertiser demand growth.
Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals plunged as much as 28% after the release of a short-seller note on the company.
Toyota will recall 6.5 million vehicles to fix a power window defect, and another two million will be recalled for a potential fire hazard.
Investors also digested U.S. Energy Information Administration oil inventories data, which showed inventories rise by eight million barrels, as U.S. crude prices have fallen over 4.5% this week.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries strengthened, dropping yields to 2.02% from Tuesday’s 2.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $1.02 a barrel to $45.27 U.S.
Gold prices fell $9.89 to $1,166.15 U.S. an ounce.
