Equities in Toronto fell on Wednesday, as a decline in bullion prices and material stocks offset gains in oil prices and optimism over an economic rebound from vaccination rollouts and a U.S. fiscal package.
The TSX slid 43.5 points to move into noon hour EST Wednesday at 18,378.10.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.10 at 79.23 cents U.S.
Osisko Mining fell 11 cents, or 3.7%, the most on the TSX, to $2.76.
The second biggest decliner was Torex Gold Resources, down 43 cents, or 2.7%, to $15.31.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Laurentian Bank of Canada, up $3.36, or 9.2%, to $39.89, and Sleep Country Canada Holdings, which jumped $1.75, or 6.3%, to $29.75, after earnings beats.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said January rang in 2021 with a record high total value of building permits issued, rising 8.2% to $9.9 billion and surpassing the previous record of $9.6 billion set in April 2019. These gains were driven primarily by the residential sector in January.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange unloaded 17.83 points, or 1.7%, to 1,009.92.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups pointed downward midday, with gold dulling in price 2.4%, information technology suffering 2%, Materials losing 1.7%.
The five gainers were led by energy, picking up 2.2%, consumer discretionary stocks, better by 1.3%, and real-estate, up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Tech stocks dragged down the S&P 500 Wednesday amid rising bond yields, while names tied to an economic recovery provided the market with some support.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained130.78 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 31,522.30, supported by a 3% jump in Boeing shares.
The S&P 500 demurred 6.35 points to 3,863.94. The energy sector rose 2%.
The NASDAQ Composite dumped 108.36 points to 13,250.42.
Growing optimism over the vaccine rollout sparked a rally in cyclical stocks and reopening plays. American Airlines popped 4%, while Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line jumped about 6% each.
President Joe Biden said late Tuesday that the U.S. will have a large enough supply of coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May. That would be two months ahead of schedule. The vaccine rollout is seen as key part in getting Americans back to work and for the economy to recover.
On the data front, private companies added 117,000 new jobs in February, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 225,000 private jobs were added last month.
Meanwhile, the pace of growth in the services side of the U.S. economy decelerated in February. The Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index showed a reading of 55.3 for last month, down 3.4 percentage points from January and below the 58.7 Dow Jones estimate.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys thundered lower, raising yields to 1.48% from Tuesday’s 1.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices jumped $1.64 to $61.39 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $12.10 to $1,721.50.
