Canada's main stock index lost some of early steam mid-Wednesday, as health-care losses overcame gains in energy and gold shares.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index had surrendered morning gains and faded 3.17 points by noon Wednesday to 15,128.61
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.08 cents at 75.63 U.S.
Also helping the main index was Tahoe Resources, which rallied 47.6%, after Pan American Silver Corp agreed to buy the miner for $1.07 billion in cash and stock deal.
Pan American, which fell 8.9%, was the second biggest decliner on Canada's main index.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc jumped 20.7%, the second biggest gainer on the TSX, after the luxury apparel maker reported better-than-expected quarterly profit as revenue from its online and branded stores more than doubled, helping it raise its forecast for the full year.
The health-care sector fell, the most among the three sectors that were trading lower, weighed by a drop in shares of cannabis producers.
Canopy Growth declined 5.2% after posting a bigger-than-expected quarterly net loss.
Cineplex plunged 17.5% the most on the TSX, after the company reported third-quarter revenue that missed estimates.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 8.5 points, or 1.4%., to 617.92
Seven of the 12 subgroups were positive, with gold ahead 1.5%, consumer discretionary stocks up 0.8%, while energy gushed 0.6%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, down 4.4%, while real-estate slipped 0.3%, and consumer staples frowned 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks gave back their gains from earlier in the day on Wednesday as shares of Apple rolled over. A decline in bank shares also pressured the broader market.
The Dow Jones Industrials slipped 73.97 points to greet noon ET at 25,212.52
The S&P 500 fell 5.7 points to 2,716.47. The NASDAQ slumped 17.98 points to 7,182.90.
Apple fell more than 1%, breaking below its 200-day moving average, a key technical level. The decline comes after Guggenheim downgraded the stock. This downgrade comes as UBS cut its 12-month price target on the stock and follows a target reduction at Goldman Sachs. Investors have been worried the company's iPhone sales will slow down in the near future.
Bank stocks were punished, after Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters said the Trump administration's efforts to curb banking regulations "will come to an end." Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup all traded lower.
Oil stocks prospered, led by gains in Apache and ConocoPhillips. Both stocks rose more than 3%.
Wednesday's moves come after a volatile session on Tuesday, with the Dow falling just a touch above 100 points by the close, despite a rise earlier in the session in excess of 100 points.
Investors also breathed a sigh of relief the latest data showed U.S. inflation is still tame.
The consumer price index rose 0.3% in October — in line with expectations — boosted by higher gasoline prices, used cars and housing. The so-called core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, missed estimates on an annualized basis, coming in at 2.1%. This is also lower than a previous reading of 2.2%.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury regained lost ground, lowering yields to 3.13% from Tuesday’s 3.14%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices rose $1.08 to $56.77 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $2.20 at $1,203.60 U.S. an ounce.
