Mar. 18, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
A continuing Greek debt crisis helped push the Toronto stock market lower Thursday afternoon, with commodity stocks dampened by worries an already shaky global economic recovery could have the wind knocked out of it should EU bailout efforts fail.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell back 60.65 points, to end the day at 12,040.01.
TSX commodity stocks were particularly weak with the base metals sector down as May copper fell two cents at $3.40 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources lost 67 cents to $41.30 and Equinox Minerals dipped 17 cents to $3.70.
The energy sector shed some of its strength as oil prices slipped following two days of sharp advances that were fuelled by signs U.S. crude demand may be improving. Canadian Natural Resources was down 97 cents to $73.72.
Midnight Oil Exploration dropped a penny to $1.07.
The financial sector was slightly lower after American banking giant Citigroup cuts rating on the global financial sector to neutral from overweight. TD Bank declined 44 cents to $74.10
The gold sector made slight inroads Goldcorp Inc. faded 47 cents to $39.81.
A U.S. federal judge has dismissed a shareholder lawsuit against CIBC that claimed the big Canadian bank misled investors about its exposure to the U.S. subprime mortgage market. CIBC shares dipped 35 cents to $75.01
Coffee store chain operator Second Cup Income Fund posted net income of $4.1 million, an improvement over a year earlier loss of $17.1 million. The fund also announced plans to convert from an income trust to a corporation by the beginning of the next calendar year. Its units rose 49 cents to $7.31.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said foreign investments in Canadian securities continued to grow, hitting $11.8 billion in January, with more growth seen in debt instruments. Meanwhile, Canadians withdrew $5.8 billion from their holdings of foreign securities in the same period.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.46 cents to 98.61 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups went south Thursday. Metals and mining stocks fell hardest, 1.5%, global base metals were next worst, at 1.3%, and materials suffered 1.1%.
Only a 0.7% gain by information technology prevented a bear shutout.
The TSX Venture Exchange retreated 2.92 points to 1,574.86, while the Nasdaq Canada index subtracted 3.16 points to 801.70.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, buying in select blue chips pushed the Dow toward the highest close in nearly 18 months, but the broader market churned Thursday as investors showed some reluctance after the recent rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average moved ahead 45.50 points, to 10,779.17. The S&P 500 index stepped back 0.38 points to 1,165.83, while the Nasdaq composite regained 2.19 points to 2,391.28.
Stocks have been moving higher lately, with the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq all rising in four of the last five weeks and all currently on track to end higher for this week. The Dow and S&P have closed higher in 14 of the last 15 sessions and the Nasdaq has ended higher in 13 of the last 15 sessions.
After such a run, stock investors showed reluctance to make much of a move on Thursday.
Stocks rallied Wednesday, with the three major indexes all closing at new 2010 highs, after the U.S. and Japanese central banks chose to keep interest rates low. The gains were also driven by the Senate's passage of a $17.6-billion-U.S. jobs bill that President Obama is expected to sign into law Thursday.
FedEx reported higher fiscal third-quarter sales and earnings that topped estimates, thanks to higher shipping volume. Shipping volume is a key measure for FedEx and the improvement is seen as a good sign for the economy.
The package delivery firm also lifted its forecast for full-year earnings to a range that meets analysts' estimates. But the company said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings will fall in a range that could miss analysts' estimates, leaving shares little changed.
A variety of bank shares slipped with analysts at Citigroup and a few smaller brokerages cautioning that the sector is vulnerable to a pullback after having bounced so much off the market lows a year ago.
Since the broad stock market bottomed on March 9, 2009, the Financial Select Sector, which tracks the biggest financial stocks, has gained over 150%.
On Thursday, regional banks such as KeyCorp, SunTrust Banks and Fifth Third Bancorp all fell. Larger financial firms including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America also fell.
Greece warned Thursday that it will have to tap the International Monetary Fund for help if the European Union can't agree next week to a plan of attack that will help it cut its borrowing rates. Going outside the 16-nation euro zone would be seen as a blow to the group and could further weaken the euro.
Greece has already implemented so-called austerity measures to cut back some of its debt, including lifting the retirement age and asking government workers to take pay cuts. However, these measures are being countered by rising borrowing rates, as lenders fear that Greece will ultimately default on its debt.
Investors took in reports on inflation, jobless claims and a regional manufacturing index.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was unchanged in February after climbing 0.2% the month before, according to the Labor Deparment. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected the CPI to edge up 0.1%. The so-called core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, increased 0.1% after falling 0.1% in January. That was in line with expectations.
The government also reported that the number of Americans filing initial claims for jobless benefits fell last week to 457,000 from 462,000 the week before. Forecasts had called for a decline to 455,000.
The Conference Board released its index of leading economic indicators (LEI) shortly after the start of trading. LEI rose 0.1% in February, as expected, after rising 0.3% in the previous month.
The Philadelphia Fed index, also released after the start of trading, rose to 18.9 in March from 17.6 in February. Economists thought it would rise to 18.
Treasury prices dropped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.67% from Tuesday's 3.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil stumbled 92 cents to $82.01 U.S.
Gold prices prospered a dollar to $1,125 U.S.
