The Toronto stock market endured a negative start to the session Wednesday as commodity prices fell amid fears that Britain is slipping into recession and that negotiations on avoiding a Greek debt default had hit an impasse.
The S&P TSX Composite Index began Wednesday down 36.34 points to 12,358.90
The Canadian dollar skidded 0.32 cents to 98.77 cents U.S.
Shares in rival Research In Motion Ltd. were off 0.5% in pre-market trading in New York. RIM shares have tumbled 12% since announcing a management shakeup Sunday night that saw co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis step down.
Traders were unimpressed after the new CEO, Thorsten Heins, told analysts he didn’t think drastic change was needed at the BlackBerry maker.
In other corporate news, Wild Stream Exploration Inc. said it has struck an agreement to sell all issued and outstanding shares to Crescent Point Energy Corp. for about $770 million.
Wild Stream says each of its common shares will be exchanged for 0.17 common shares of Crescent Point, one share of a new light oil focused junior exploration company and 0.2 of a share purchase warrant, or new company warrants.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 0.44 points to 1,576.73, while the Nasdaq Canada index retreated 1.22 points to 391.31.
All but four of the 14 Toronto subgroups started the day in negative country. Metals and mining stocks sank 1.1%, while global base metals and financials demurred 0.7% each.
The three gainers were led by information technology, advancing 0.6%, while industrials and consumer staples moved up 0.1% each. Health-care issues were flat early on.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks opened mixed Wednesday, as investors await the latest statement from the Federal Reserve and keep an eye on Greece's debt talks.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave back 77.99 points to 12,597.80
The S&P 500 fell 4.56 points to 1,310.07, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gained 6.88 points to 2,793.52.
Investors will also be watching for the results of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which are due later in the day. The Fed is set to release forward-looking forecasts for the federal funds rate for the first time ever.
Shares of Apple remain in focus, after the iPhone and iPad maker reported a whopping quarterly profit of $13 billion U.S. after the closing bell Tuesday -- the best quarter ever for a technology company.
The company said sales for the quarter hit $46.3 billion U.S, sending shares shooting up almost 7% Wednesday. The gains helped Apple surpasses Exxon Mobil as the most valuable U.S. company.
Delta reported fourth-quarter earnings that widely beat expectations, sending shares of the airline higher.
Shares of Ericsson tumbled after the Swedish telecom-equipment maker reported a 66% drop in fourth quarter profit, driven by weak network sales.
Yahoo reported a much quieter quarter than Apple, posting earnings in line with analysts' expectations after the close Tuesday. Shares of the company slipped.
Shares of Nvidia Corp. slumped a day after the graphics chip maker cut its fourth-quarter sales outlook, citing a shortage of disk drives.
Advanced Micro Devices also reported earnings late Tuesday, posting revenue that missed expectations. Shares of the semiconductor company fell.
U.S. stocks ended mostly in the red Tuesday, as investors waded through corporate earnings results and awaited progress out of Greece.
Investors are likely to remain anxious Wednesday over Greece's ongoing negotiations with representatives of private-sector creditors to reduce its debt burden.
Greece is in desperate need of an agreement to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Without these funds, the country may not be able to make a €14-billion debt payment that's due March 20.
On the economic beat, the Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.25%, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.
Also on tap for Wednesday, pending home sales for the month of December are expected to have dropped by 3%, after rising 7.3% in the prior month.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note were static early Wednesday, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 2.06%.
Oil for February delivery dropped 78 cents to $98.17 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery subsided $12.60 to $1,651.80 U.S. an ounce.
