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Mar. 24, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks were down in mid-morning deals Wednesday amid selling among a variety of sectors. The S&P/TSX Composite Index settled 44.09 points by noon to 12,000.45. Troubling news on the European debt situation and profit taking at higher levels, as the main index was hovering near its calendar year high, put pressure on Canadian stocks. Today, Fitch Ratings downgraded Portugal by one notch to AA- and said the country's prospects for recovery were weaker than its peers in the euro zone. The euro slipped to a 10-month low versus the dollar, dragging commodities prices lower. The Material Index slipped, as Inmet Mining lost 0.96% and Pan American Silver shed 2.08%. Precious metals explorer Endeavour Silver trimmed 1.77%. The company turned to profit in its fourth quarter, reporting net earnings of $3.1 million compared with a net loss of $5.2 million in the year ago period. Among gold stocks, Eldorado Gold moved down 2.02%. Barrick Gold Corp. said the initial public offering for African Barrick Gold plc or "ABG" garnered around $834 million. The stock slipped 2.28%. Base metals stocks were under pressure right from the word go. FNX Mining surrendered 2.71% and Quadra Mining lost 2.59%. Yesterday, Quadra and FNX agreed to merge in a $1.51-billion all stock deal. Meanwhile, Teck Resources recovered from early morning losses, gaining 0.82%. In the energy sector, Encana Corp was down 1.62%. Suncor Energy said that it reached an agreement to sell certain natural gas properties for about $235 million. The stock eased 0.29%. Oil fields services provider Black Diamond Group surrendered 3.92% after reporting lower earnings of $4.2 million for the fourth quarter, compared to $5.9 million in the year-ago quarter. However, looking ahead, the company expects new project deployments and the expanded fleet and operating platform to be accretive to earnings in the next two quarters. Oil and natural gas explorer Rock Energy was down 5.98% after reporting fourth-quarter funds from operations $0.20 per share, compared to $0.21 per share in the previous year. WestFire Energy eased 0.33% despite reporting improved net income for the fourth quarter of $0.43 per share, compared to $0.06 per share for the year-ago quarter. The Canadian dollar slumped 0.74 cents to 97.70 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower by noon. Gold slid 2.1%, materials listed 1.1% lower and energy stocks tailed off 0.6%. The three gainers were health-care, up 1.1%, real-estate, ahead 0.2%, and metals and mining issues, sneaking but 0.02% up. The TSX Venture Exchange lost 4.93 points to 1,556.43. The Nasdaq Canada index backtracked 9.51 points to 799.59. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks fell Wednesday, giving back some of the previous session's strong gains, as concerns about European debt resurfaced and investors took in a dour housing report. The Dow Jones industrial average subtracted 20.03 points in the session's first half-hour to 10,868.50. The S&P 500 index eased 2.83 points to 1,171.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq loosed 9.13 points to 2,406.11. Stocks rallied Tuesday, with all three major indexes ending at new 18-month highs following the release of an existing home sales report that was better than expected. But renewed concerns over European debt problems beyond Greece weighed on the market after rating agency Fitch lowered Portugal's sovereign credit rating one notch on budget concerns. The jitters over Europe's economic and fiscal health battered the euro, which fell to its lowest level against the dollar since May. The stronger dollar weighed on commodity prices, Lennar reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss of four cents U.S. per share, versus a loss of 89 cents U.S. a year ago. The homebuilder said it sees signs the U.S. housing market is moving towards stabilization. General Mills reported adjusted earnings per share of 97 cents U.S. on net sales of $3.6 billion U.S. in its fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings per share of 85 cents U.S. and sales of $3.5 billion U.S. Economically speaking, sales of new homes unexpectedly fell 2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 308,000 units. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a jump to a 315,000-annualized-unit rate from a 305,000-annualized-unit rate in January. Elsewhere, the Commerce Department released its report on durable goods orders, showing a gain of 0.5% in February, which was the third consecutive increase and in line with economists' expectations. Durable goods excluding autos rose 0.9%, after falling 1% in January. Economists expected an increase of 0.3%. Due out shortly after the start of trade was February new home sales data from the Census Bureau. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect a jump to a 315,000-annualized-unit rate from a 305,000-annualized-unit rate in January. The price of the benchmark 10-year note dropped sharply, lifting yields to 3.76% from Tuesday's 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil fell $1.25 to $80.66 U.S. Gold prices moved $13 lower to $1,091 U.S.