Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, with Bombardier Inc plunging after reporting a massive quarterly loss and Potash Corp also retreating as it trimmed its earnings and sales forecasts.
The S&P/TSX composite index faded 51.03 points to greet noon at 13,812.13
The Canadian dollar gained 0.22 cents at 75.99 cents U.S.
Bombardier shed 15.5% to $1.36 after the Montreal-based plane and train maker said the Quebec government will invest $1 billion in its long-delayed CSeries jet program and announced a $4.6-billion U.S. third-quarter loss.
Potash fell 3.8% to $27.07 as the world's biggest fertilizer company by capacity said it was cutting production as economic pressures weigh on demand for potash, a crop nutrient.
On the positive side, Suncor Energy Inc gained 2.3% to $38.39 and Cenovus Energy added 4.3% to $20.07, while the overall energy group rose 1.8%
The financial sector lost, with Toronto-Dominion Bank down 1.3% to $54.65 and Manulife Financial off 1% to $22.32.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada’s industrial product price index declined 0.3% in September, mainly due to lower prices for energy and petroleum products, while the raw materials price index rose 3% in the same month, led by higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 2.08 points to 544.07
Eight of the 13 TSX subgroups were negative by midday, with metals and mining stumbling 4.3%, materials down 2.4%, and consumer staples off 1.6%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, up 1.9%, energy, up 1.3%, and information technology gained 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower Thursday, following the prior day's rally, as investors weighed the possibility of a December rate hike and viewed earnings.
The Dow Jones industrial average retreated 62.7 points to 17,716.82, with Pfizer leading decliners and UnitedHealth the greatest advancer.
The S&P 500 dropped 2.43 points to 2,087.92, with utilities leading seven sectors lower and health care leading advancers.
The NASDAQ index settled 13.85 points to 5,081.84
Health-care briefly gained more than 1% to lead S&P 500 advancers, helped by a rally of more than 8.5% in Allergan. The firm confirmed that it has been approached by Pfizer and is in talks regarding a potential deal. Shares of both companies were briefly halted.
On the earnings front, Aetna and Time Warner Cable were among the companies that reported before the bell.
Baidu, Starbucks, Electronic Arts, LinkedIn, Western Union, Boston Beer, First Solar, Outerwall and SolarCity are among companies due to report after the bell.
The U.S. Federal Reserve issued a post-meeting statement Wednesday that was more hawkish than many expected. In the statement, the central bank downplayed September's concerns about impact from global growth and specifically noted it will be looking for progress in employment and labor when considering whether to raise rates at its December meeting.
In economic news, third-quarter GDP showed an annual rate of 1.5%, slightly missing expectations and below the second-quarter's 3.9%. Weekly jobless claims totaled 260,000.
Pending home sales in September fell 2.3% to its second-lowest reading of 2015.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were sharply lower, raising yields to 2.16% from Wednesday’s 2.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 24 cents a barrel to $46.18 U.S.
Gold prices slid $5.17 to $1,150.93 U.S. an ounce.
