Canada's main stock ?index lost ground by noon EDT on Wednesday as gold prices dipped, while investors watched developments around the Middle East conflict ?and U.S. President Donald Trump's ?visit to China.
The TSX Composite Index faded 218.54 points to break for lunch at 34,072.19.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.15 cents to 72.99 cents U.S.
Equinox Gold said it ?would acquire Orla Mining in a deal that would create a North American-focused gold producer with an implied market value of about $18.5 billion.
Shares in Equinox stumbled 58 cents, or 2.9%, to $19.72, while Orla shares dipped eight cents to $19.70.
Collision repair operator ?Boyd Group's first-quarter sales rose ?28% but slightly missed analyst expectations. Boyd shares fell $18.43, or 12.1%, to $134.43.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 2.35 points to 1,015.36
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red, weighed most by information technology, down 1.7%, energy, sliding 1%, and consumer discretionary stocks, slumping 0.8%.
The two gainers were health-care, up 1.3% and materials, inching up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell on Wednesday after another hotter-than-expected inflation report sent Treasury yields to a 10-month high, while gains in chip stocks boosted the NASDAQ Composite.
The 30-stock index floundered 234.78 points, to greet move into Wednesday afternoon at 49,525.78.
The S&P 500 index regained 17.23 points to 7,418.19.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ recovered 178.08 points to 26,266.28.
Technology stocks outperformed from the rest of the market, as inflation fears spurred by higher energy prices due to the Iran war weighed on other sectors such as retail and banking. Nvidia shares traded higher by more than 2%. Micron Technology gained more than 3%.
Those moves comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined President Donald Trump on his trip to China to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Wednesday, the producer price index jumped 1.4% in April. That marked the largest monthly increase since March 2022 and was much more than the 0.5% rise that economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting.
Additionally, wholesale inflation gained 6% in April on an annual basis — the biggest since December 2022. That figure was also above the 4.9% consensus estimate.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 4.49% from Tuesday’s 4.46%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices nicked up 32 cents to $102.50 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $17.80 to $4,704.50 U.S. an ounce.
