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Mar. 30, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks were hovering in the green in mid-morning deals Tuesday amid mixed performances among the sectors. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was 3.63 points higher by noon, to 12,033.35 While energy and financial stocks ticked higher, base metals and gold stocks were under pressure. Traders were digesting the just released report from the U.S. Conference Board, which said its consumer confidence index jumped more-than-expected. The Energy Index was up, with Cenovus Energy and Niko Resources gaining nearly 3% each. Suncor Energy rose 1.06%. Meanwhile, oil and gas industry services provider Enterprise Oilfield Group slipped 1.96%. The company reported $2.2 million net loss for the fourth quarter, compared to $13.6 million net loss in the same quarter a year-ago. Among financial stocks, Scotia Bank gained 0.65% and RBC added 0.49%. Paper manufacturer Catalyst Paper surged 13.04% after it said that it would restart the second line of pulp production at its Crofton NBSK kraft mill in early May, taking advantage of a stronger market. Food products dealer CoolBrands International added 4.20% even after reporting a second quarter net loss of $0.02 per share, compared to net income of $0.01 per share in same period last year. Bombardier Inc. edged up 0.83% after it signed a $3.85-billion-U.S. financing deal with CDB Leasing, China Development Bank Corp.'s leasing arm. Mineral explorer First Nickel rose 3.70% after reporting a narrower fourth quarter net loss of $0.01 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.14 per share in the last year quarter. In the base metals sector, Inmet Mining shed 1.49% and Ivanhoe Mines lost 1.32%. Among gold stocks, Goldcorp shed 1.23% and Eldorado Gold gave in 1.69%. Blackberry maker Research In Motion slipped 2.73% ahead of its fourth-quarter financial results due out tomorrow. Media and marketing company Yellow Media eased 0.48%. The company said it will acquire Canadian Phone Directories Holdings Inc. from an investor group led by private equity firm HM Capital Partners for $225 million. In economic news, Statistics Canada said the Industrial Product Price Index was unchanged in February, after advancing for the past three months. Meanwhile, the Raw Materials Price Index was up 0.4%, largely due to higher prices of mineral fuels. The Canadian dollar picked up 0.20 cents to 98.11 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine had gone south by lunch time. Gold slid 1.7%, while materials moved 0.9% lower, and information technology fell 0.7%. The five gainers were led by energy stocks, up 0.6%, by consumer discretionary and industrial stocks had gained 0.5% each. The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.58 points to 1,570.65. The Nasdaq Canada index fell back 13.18 points to 800.27. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities gave up gains, turning mixed near midday Tuesday, as financial shares retreated and a stronger dollar nipped at commodity prices and stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average had faded into the red 4.54 points by noon to 10,891.32. The S&P 500 index lost 1.37 points to 1,171.85, while the tech-rich Nasdaq removed 1.16 points to 2,403.20. Stocks rose in early trading as investors welcomed a better-than-expected reading on consumer confidence and took in stride a report showing continued weakness in the housing market. But the advance petered out near midday as investors pulled back after an extended advance over the last few weeks. A variety of bank shares slipped, dragging down the KBW Bank index by 0.9%. Among Dow movers, 24 of 30 declined, led by Exxon Mobil, Walt Disney Travelers Companies, DuPont and Boeing. Stocks have risen in six of the last seven weeks as investors looked past worries about a global debt crisis and instead focused on signs of an economic recovery. On Monday, the government said personal spending rose for the fifth month in a row. Tuesday's reports showed a better-than-expected rise in consumer confidence and continued weakness in the housing market. Economically speaking, the Consumer Confidence index rose to 52.5 in March from 46.4 in February, according to a report from the Conference Board, released shortly after the start of trading. Economists expected the index to rise to 51. Also, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index showed that prices were down 0.4% in January, compared with December. Prices were down 0.7% from a year ago. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected prices to have fallen 0.6% in January versus a year earlier. In December, the index plunged 3.1%. Shares of the company surged to an all-time high Tuesday after the Wall Street Journal said late Monday that the company is developing an iPhone for the Verizon network. Currently, the iPhone is only available on the AT&T network. Apple shares gained 1%, AT&T shares lost 1.4% and Verizon shares added 2.5%. Verizon was one of few Dow gainers. The other big gainer was 3M. The price of the benchmark 10-year note slipped, to raise the yield to 3.88% from Monday's 3.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil gained 17 cents to $82.34 U.S. Gold prices gave back eight dollars to $1,104 U.S.