Feb. 10, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
10:25 am EST
It was another pronounced pullback for stocks in Toronto within a few minutes of the opening bell Wednesday
The S&P TSX Composite Index continued its freefall, 98.04 points to begin the day's trading at 8,280.66, dragged down by energy and mining stocks along with a poorly received earnings report from Rogers Communications.
New York markets were little changed ahead of an announcement by U.S. President Barack Obama to deal with the home foreclosure crisis.
The TSX energy sector lost 0.6% as oil prices stabilized. EnCana Corp. declined 50 cents to $50.80.
The financial sector was off 0.3% after falling 6% Tuesday on rising concerns about the state of the East European banking sector. CIBC fell 55 cents to $43.05.
The gold sector off, as Barrick Gold Corp. declined 51 cents to $46.68.
Mining stocks also dragged, as Teck Cominco Ltd. lost 11 cents to $4.33.
It's also a heavy earnings day in Canada.
Rogers Communications Inc. shares fell $3.05 or 8.8% to $31.30 after it said a decrease in the value of its television division generated impairment charges that propelled the company to a fourth-quarter loss of $138 million.
The result marks a sharp drop from a profit of $254 million recorded in the same quarter a year earlier.
Grocery chain operator Loblaw Companies Ltd. posted fourth-quarter profit of $188 million, up from a year-earlier $40 million, as sales jumped 11%, helped by one-time gains and an extra week in the accounting period.
Sales rose to $7.75 billion from $6.97 billion and its shares were up 39 cents to $33.79.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.42 cents to 79.49 cents U.S.
BAYSTREET
All of the 13 TSX sub-groups were in negative territory to start the midweek session. Telecoms slipped 2.4%, followed by metals and mining, down 2% and gold, off 1.5%.
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 1.33 points to 917.83 while the NASDAQ Canada index picked up 3.88 points, to 464.40
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones industrials index inched out of its burrow 7.33 points ahead, to 7,559.93, after Tuesday's nasty selloff. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1.55 points to 790.72, while the NASDAQ composite index edged up 2.08 points at 1,472.74.
A day after signing a massive $787-billion U.S. stimulus plan into law, Obama plans to tackle the foreclosure crisis with a $75-billion program that would prevent up to nine million Americans from losing their homes.
Obama was expected to offer government cash to mortgage companies that reduce interest rates - and therefore monthly payments - for homeowners in danger of default.
What remained unclear was how the government will decide who qualifies for relief.
The announcement of mortgage relief will come just after data showed construction of new homes in the U.S. plunged to a record low in January as all parts of the country showed big declines in building activity.
The Commerce Department says construction of new homes and apartments dropped 16.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units, well below the 530,000 units economists expected, and was the slowest pace on records dating back a half-century.
Applications for building permits also dropped to a record low.
Also, the Federal Reserve reported that U.S. industrial production fell 1.8% last month, worse than the 1.5% slide that economists expected.
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler have filed restructuring plans with the U.S. government that call for an additional $39 billion U.S. of aid. The two automakers have already received $17.4 billion U.S.
The requests, made in government-required restructuring plans filed Tuesday, were accompanied by plans for thousands more job cuts, slashing of models and brands, union concessions and the prospect of even further expense cuts.
GM shares climbed five cents to $2.23 U.S.
The March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange inched up five cents to $34.98 U.S. a barrel after falling $2.58 U.S. on Tuesday.
The April bullion contract in New York was up $1.30 to $968.80 U.S. an ounce.