Equity markets in Toronto fell on Wednesday with Canadian National Railway leading the retreat after results missed forecasts.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved lower 58.26 points to greet noon at 15,846.88
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.75 cents to 78.17 cents U.S.
Canada’s largest rail operator gave up all of the previous session’s pre-earnings gains and fell 1.9% to $103.46, after several analysts also cut their price targets on the company.
Roots Corp. tumbled 15.8% to $10.10 in its trading debut in Toronto after raising $200 million in an initial public offering.
TransCanada Corp was one of the most influential decliners after CN Rail, falling 1.4% to $60.06. The company said earlier on Wednesday it was selling its Ontario solar assets for $540 million.
The overall energy group, however, was little changed, with oil prices steady after data showed a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories.
Another industrial stock, Air Canada, was down 0.8% to $26.14 after opening higher following quarterly results that were better than expected.
The heavily-weighted financial services sector slipped 0.2% with Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd sliding 1.3% to $646.56.
Tempering some of the losses included Telus Corp, which rose 2.5% to $46.85.
The Bank of Canada today did as expected, and maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1.25% and the deposit rate is 0.75%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 0.39 points to 784.09
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground by midday, as industrials fell 0.7%, materials and utilities each sank 0.5%
Telecoms led the two gaining groups, up 1%, while real-estate stocks scraped up 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were having their worst day in two months on Wednesday as another batch of corporate earnings reports hit the tape. Concerns of rising bond yields also dampened sentiment in stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 137.83 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 23,303.93, with Boeing contributing the most to the losses.
The S&P 500 fell 18.63 points to 2,550.50, with industrials and telecommunications leading decliners. Chipotle Mexican Grill was the biggest decliner on the index, dropping 15% after its quarterly results missed the mark.
The NASDAQ slid 58.26 points to 6,531.46
Dow-component Boeing posted better-than-expected earnings and sales. The company also raised its full-year guidance.
The stock traded 3.5% lower, however, after two of its businesses saw declines in revenue compared to last year, largely due to $329 million in costs due to production problems of the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker.
Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices saw its shares drop 12% despite beating the Street on earnings and revenue. The company said it expects a drop in revenue for the current quarter.
Visa, another Dow member, also reported stronger-than-expected results. The company said more customers made payments with the Visa network. Visa shares rose 1.2% and were the best performers on the Dow.
In economic news, durable goods orders rose 2.2% in September, more than the expected increase of 1%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped, raising yields to 2.44% from Tuesday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 52 cents a barrel to $51.95 U.S.
Gold prices dropped 60 cents an ounce to $1,277.70 U.S.
