A tote board displays TSX numbers in Toronto, on Dec.31, 2012.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Toronto stock market was lower Wednesday after four days of solid, triple-digit advances while traders looked to a mixed bag of earnings news.
The move follows four days of solid, triple-digit advances while traders looked to a mixed bag of earnings news.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 90.48 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 14,461.33.
The move lower also came amid reports of a shooting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.43 of a cent to 88.63 cents (U.S.) ahead of the release of the Bank of Canada's latest interest rate announcement and its Monetary Policy Report.
Traders also took in a worse than expected reading on mid-summer Canadian retail sales. Statistics Canada reported retail sales fell 0.3 per cent overall during August. Economists had expected a flat reading but auto sales and gasoline prices were weaker than anticipated.
U.S. indexes also stalled following a series of sharp runups with the Dow Jones industrials ahead 0.42 of a point to 16,615.23, the Nasdaq was up 1.05 points to 4,420.53 and the S&P 500 futures inched up 0.9 of a point to 1,942.18.
The TSX has gained almost 700 points over the past four sessions after a selloff triggered in part by worries about the global economy. Still, the TSX is down seven per cent from the record highs that were set in early September and ahead six per cent year to date.
Investors have also been concerned about the impending end to the Federal Reserve's key stimulus program involving the purchase of hundreds of billions of dollars of bonds.
Analysts have been careful to warn that it's too early to sound the all-clear on the current retracement and that volatility will be a fixture on markets for awhile yet.
The industrials sector provided most of the lift to the TSX thanks to gains in railroad stocks.
Canadian National Railway posted net income of $853-million (Canadian), up 21 per cent from a year earlier. Revenues grew 16 per cent to a record $2.7-billion but adjusted earnings came in at $1.04, a penny short of expectations but its shares gained $1.56 to $77.24.
Canadian Pacific also delivered earnings Tuesday and, in a conference call, CEO Hunter Harrison said the status quo is in the railway industry is unacceptable and mergers are a possible solution. Its shares edged up $1.21 to $225.79.
The December crude contract in New York was ahead 45 cents to $82.94 (U.S.) a barrel and the energy sector gained 0.16 per cent.
The gold sector led decliners, down 1.25 per cent as December bullion faded $5.90 to $1,245.80 an ounce.
The base metals sector declined 0.4 per cent while December copper was unchanged at $3.02 a pound.
Elsewhere, Yahoo's third-quarter earnings soared as the Internet company collected a huge windfall from Alibaba's recent IPO. Yahoo earned $6.8-billion, or $6.70 per share, in the third quarter. That compares with income of $297-million, or 28 cents per share, last year. Earnings ex-items were 34 cents a share, two cents ahead of estimates and its shares gained two per cent.
On Wednesday, aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported third-quarter earnings of $1.36-billion or $1.86 a share. Ex-items, earnings came to $2.14 per share, surpassing expectations for $1.95 a share but its shares slipped 1.45 per cent.
Elsewhere on the corporate front, Kinross Gold Corp. is selling its 100 per cent interest the Fruta del Norte project in Ecuador for $240-million in cash and equity to Fortress Minerals Corp. Kinross was off seven cents to $3.19 while Fortress was unchanged at $5.50.