Equities in Canada’s biggest stock market dwindled by midday Wednesday, as mining stocks subsided and as crude oil prices fluctuated.
The S&P/TSX composite index had dropped 35.53 points to greet noon Wednesday at 12,340.37
The Canadian dollar slumped 0.18 cents to 69.94 cents U.S.
Shaw Communications Inc rallied more than 8% to $25.36. The company said it would sell its media unit to Corus Entertainment Inc for $2.65 billion, gaining funding for its Wind Mobile purchase.
Magna International Inc rose 4.6% to $52.85 after the company said it expected sales in its auto parts manufacturing business to rise about 15.7% this year, helped by acquisitions.
Financials edged higher, including a 1.4% advance for Brookfield Asset Management to $41.94.
Railway stocks were down, including a 1.8% drop in Canadian National Railway Co to $73.57.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 1.09 points to 499.23.
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, seven were higher, led by consumer discretionary issues, up 1.8%, while consumer staples blossomed 0.5%, and real-estate stocks popped 0.4%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed mostly by metals and mining, swooning 2.9%, industrials, falling 1.4%, and telecoms, down 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Equities in New York traded lower Wednesday as low oil prices and consumer discretionary stocks weighed.
The Dow Jones industrial average turned negative 83.14 points to 16,433.08, with Home Depot the greatest decliner and Exxon Mobil leading advancers.
The S&P 500 slipped 12.98 points to 1,925.07. Consumer discretionary plays fell more than 1% as the greatest decliner in the S&P 500.
The NASDAQ index tumbled 45.46 points, or nearly 1%, to 4,640.46, as Amazon fell more than 2.5% and Apple held more than half a percent higher in midday trade.
Netflix fell more than 5% in midday trade to also weigh on the NASDAQ. Netflix and Amazon both more than doubled in 2015 as the top performers in the S&P 500.
JPMorgan Chase earnings are expected Thursday before the opening bell.
Copper edged higher after hitting fresh near-seven-year lows earlier in the week. Freeport-McMoRan extended the week's sharp decline to trade more than 6.5% lower in midday trade.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book and the monthly budget will be released and may shed some light on the state of the economy and when the next interest rate hike may come.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up, lowering yields to 2.1% from Tuesday’s 2.12%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 11 cents a barrel to $30.55 U.S.
Gold prices hiked $5.04 to $1,091.06 U.S. an ounce.
