The Toronto stock market was lower Tuesday with traders cautious amid mixed earnings reports and worries that negotiations to cut Greece’s debt could fall apart.
The S&P TSX Composite Index approached noon down 100.46 points to 12,421.24, following Monday’s 120-point-plus gain
The Canadian dollar sifted off 0.09 cents to 99.08 cents U.S.
On the earnings front, Canadian National Railway Co. shares were off 20 cents to $79.40 even as the company announced it is raising its quarterly dividend by 15% to 37.5 cents per share, starting with the next payout in March.
CN generated a profit of $592 million or $1.32 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2011, as revenue rose 12% from a year before to a record $2.38 billion.
On the TSX, investors continued to express their unhappiness over the management shakeup at Research In Motion that saw co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis step down. They were unimpressed after the new CEO, Thorsten Heins, told analysts he didn’t think drastic change was needed at the BlackBerry maker. Its shares fell 76 cents or 4.85% to $14.91 on top of a slide Monday of over 9%
The TSX energy sector lost ground as Talisman Energy gave back 16 cents to $12.34 and Canadian Natural Resources fell 39 cents to $39.82.
The base metals component eased as March copper slipped four cents to $3.76 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources gave back 54 cents to $41.41 and Ivanhoe Mines was down 29 cents to $18.01.
The gold sector declined while Barrick Gold Corp. faded 62 cents to $46.66.
Financials also weighed on the TSX as Scotiabank stepped back 44 cents to $54.11 while Royal Bank dropped 94 cents to $53.88.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported this morning that retail sales continued their hot streak in November, rising for the fourth straight month, this time by 0.3% to $38.7 billion. In all, seven of 11 subsectors reported growth.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slumped 10.70 points to 1,578.21, while the Nasdaq Canada index retreated 3.68 points to 392.45.
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were down midday. Gold suffered 1.4%, materials were down 1.3%, and financials eased 0.9%
Utilities held out against the tide, gaining a mere 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks were in the red Tuesday as investors awaited progress on Greek debt talks and waded through another batch of corporate results.
The Dow Jones Industrials broke for lunch down 45.33 points to 12,663.50
The S&P 500 fell 3.47 points to 1,312.53, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index nipped ahead 0.07 points to 2,784.24.
Meanwhile, investors waded through another round of corporate results, including Dow components Verizon, McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson and Travelers. Following Tuesday's trading day, tech leaders Apple and Yahoo will announce their results.
Following their fourth-quarter earnings reports, Coach, Harley-Davidson and Regions Financial shares jumped. Meanwhile, Texas Instruments shares slipped after its results were announced.
After the close, Apple is expected to post earnings of $10.08 U.S. a share, a steep rise from the $6.43 U.S. it reported a year earlier.
Yahoo earnings are projected to be unchanged from the 24 cents U.S. per share posted in the fourth quarter of 2010. The Web portal announced last week that company co-founder Jerry Yang resigned from its board of directors and all other positions at the company.
Anxiety remains about the European debt crisis and, in particular, Greece's ongoing negotiations with representatives of private-sector creditors to reduce its debt burden.
A deal is a key condition for Greece to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Without this financial support, Greece may not be able to make a €14-billion debt payment that's due March 20.
On the economic beat, the International Monetary Fund lowered its outlook for the world economy on Tuesday, and warned that the global financial system faces growing risks from the debt crisis in Europe.
The IMF now expects the global economy to grow 3.3% in 2012, according to an update to its World Economic Outlook. In September, the IMF said the global economy would expand 4% this year.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to start a two-day meeting, and will release forward-looking forecasts for the federal funds rate for the first time ever on Wednesday. The government also releases its first estimate of fourth-quarter economic growth on Friday.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note were static, likewise, yields were unmoved from Monday’s 2.07%.
Oil for February delivery dropped 61 cents to $98.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $10.10 to $1,668.20 U.S. an ounce.
