CN: TSX down on gloomy numbers, Fed forecast out of the U.S.
Markets in Canada turned negative near the end of trading Wednesday as oil fell on gasoline reserves numbers and a gloomier economic growth outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 52.68 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 11,620.16. The junior TSX Venture composite gained 0.45 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,384.56.
The Canadian dollar fell four basis points to 96.7 cents U.S. by late afternoon.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold fell $6.50 U.S. to $1,207 U.S. an ounce. Crude oil was down 11 cents U.S. to $77.04 U.S. a barrel after making gains earlier in the day.
The dip in Canadian stocks came just minutes after the U.S. Federal Reserve offered a lower economic growth outlook for the country. Also, the U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday that supplies of gasoline increased to a more-than-expected 1.6 million barrels to 221 million barrels for the week ended July 9.
In addition, U.S. figures showed retail sales fell 0.5 per cent in June and mortgage applications fell to the lowest level in more than 13 years.
"The news out of the States — that retail numbers are lower, mortgage applications fell, the Fed saying 'We're not growing as fast as we thought we were' — that is all affecting us here," Adrian Mastracci portfolio manager at KCM Wealth Management said. "(Canada has had) good figures the past few months, so we just got a bit ahead of ourselves, but Canada will ultimately be affected by the U.S. fragility."
Basic materials, oil and gas as well as financials and tech all dragged on the TSX.
In commodity stocks, Teck Resources was down 1.09 per cent to $34.51, Suncor was down 1.05 per cent to $32.83 and Barrick Gold was down 0.38 per cent to $22.43.
Meanwhile, Research In Motion shares were down 1.58 per cent to $56.62 after the BlackBerry maker failed to impress investors at it's annual meeting Wednesday.
The only economic news out of Canada on Wednesday came from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy, which said the number of bankruptcies in the country declined 1.3 per cent in April, and were down 21 per cent from a year earlier.
That wasn't enough to counteract negative news from the U.S., which sent oil lower. However, the disappointing data was tempered in the U.S. by positive earnings from major companies such as Alcoa and Intel, which provided an optimistic start to earnings season by beating expectations.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was up around 3.7 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 10,366.72 at the close. The Nasdaq composite index rose around 7.81 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 2,249.84.
Overseas markets were mixed, with the Nikkei stock average in Tokyo and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index both closing in positive territory. In Europe, the FTSE in London and France's CAC were down, while Germany's DAX closed higher.
