Canadian stocks fell Wednesday, pulling back after a weak monthly manufacturing report and disappointing developments from the U.S. financial sector.
The S&P/TSX composite index concluded Wednesday lower by 120.16 points to 13,439.04
The Canadian dollar was down 0.43 of a cent at 100.43 cents U.S.
The diversified metals and mining index dropped much of its strength, with shares of copper and gold miner Inmet Mining down 2.6% to $79.57. Teck Resources fell 2.3% to $62.36 and Ivanhoe Mines dropped 1.3% to $25.78.
Elsewhere, shares of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan fell 3.7% to $166.21 following news late Tuesday that privately held agricultural giant Cargill plans to exit out of its stake in Potash’s rival, Mosaic Co.
The financial group in Toronto fell with shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank down 0.6% to $76.10 and Royal Bank of Canada off 0.2% to $54.00.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales fell 0.8% in November to $44.9 billion from October, led by slower activity in the motor vehicle and auto-parts industries.
Sales were higher in 12 of 21 industries, or 55.2% of total manufacturing. Stripping out figures from the vehicle sector, manufacturing sales rose 0.2% in November.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 7.49 points to 2,285.02, while the Nasdaq Canada index erased 19.53 points to 780.
In Toronto, all but one of the 14 subgroups were lower. Metals and mining slid 2.1%, while global base metals stepped back 1.8% and materials gave back 1.4%.
The lone gainer was in the health-care group, and up only 0.02% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks continued to lose ground Wednesday afternoon during a sluggish session, as weak results from Goldman Sachs pressured financial shares and weighed on the overall market.
The Dow Jones Industrials was 12.64 points to the downside at the closing bell, at 11,825.30
The S&P 500 wiped away 13.10 points to 1,281.92. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 40.49 points to 2,725.36
Shares of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, American Express, and Morgan Stanley were all down more than 2% in afternoon trading.
Investors also paid close attention to Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States as the White House plays host Wednesday to both Hu and a group of American and Chinese business leaders.
Goldman Sachs's stock tumbled more than 4% after the bank posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, but missed on revenue estimates.
Meanwhile, shares of Wells Fargo fell 2% following results that were in line with forecasts.
Apple reported its best quarter ever late Tuesday, driven by holiday iPad and iPhone sales that were much better than forecast. Shares of Apple slipped 0.7% Wednesday, after closing down 2% Tuesday amid concerns about Steve Jobs' medical leave of absence.
Shares in IBM rose more than 3% Wednesday after the tech giant reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped forecasts Tuesday night.
Starbucks announced early Wednesday that it will begin accepting mobile payment in all of its U.S. stores, allowing customers to use select smartphones to make purchases. Shares of the company were down slightly.
Shares of American Express slid 2.7% after the credit card company said it will shut down a facility in Greensboro, N.C., resulting in 550 job cuts.
On the economic front, government figures for December showed a steep decline in housing starts, but a surprisingly dramatic increase in building permits.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that an annual rate of 529,000 new homes were started in December, a decrease from 555,000 from November. Housing starts fell short of economists' expectations.
Building permits jumped 16.7% to an annual rate of 635,000 in December, compared to 544,000 the prior month. Economists had forecasted a rate of 560,000 permits, according to Briefing.com consensus.
Prices on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury perked up a bit, lowering the yield to 3.34% from Tuesday’s 3.36%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for February delivery gave back 58 cents to $90.80 U.S. a barrel
Gold futures for February delivery rose $2.00 to settle at $1,370.20 U.S. an ounce.
