Feb. 4, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bears took the driver's seat on Bay Street from the word go, with the main index shedding nearly 200 points in mid-morning deals Thursday.
By noon, the S&P/TSX Composite Index had shed 207.04 points, or 1.8%, to 11,183.42, its three-month low.
Commodity stocks suffered the most, with the gauges of gold, diversified materials and metals stocks shedding nearly 4% each.
The Gold Index lost ground with Iamgold giving up 5.88%. Rand Gold slipped 4.64%.
Royal Gold gave in 3.44% after reporting second-quarter net income $0.23 per share, compared to $0.62 per share in the same quarter last year. Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.19 per share.
The Diversified Metals Index surrendered 3.87%. Inmet Mining slipped 4.32% and Tech Resources surrendered 3.85%.
Among energy stocks, Cenovus Energy gave in 2.15%.
Integrated petroleum producer Husky Energy was down 1.67% after reporting fourth quarter net earnings of $0.38 per share, up from $0.27 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Blackberry maker Research In Motion surrendered early morning gains and eased 0.11%. The company said it won a patent dispute case filed by rival Motorola.
Gas and electricity distributor Fortis Inc. lost 1.80% after reporting fourth-quarter net earnings of $0.46 per share, flat with that reported in the prior-year quarter.
Paper manufacturer Domtar Corp. moved down 7.50% even after reporting fourth-quarter net earnings of $2.86 per share compared with a net loss of $15.72 per share in the prior year period.
Independent full service investment dealer Canaccord Financial slipped 0.92% even after the company swung to profit by reporting third-quarter net income of $0.27 per share, against a loss of $1.27 per share in the same period last year.
On the positive side, enterprise content management software provider Open Text Corp. rallied 9.885 after reporting that its net income for the second quarter surged to $0.37 U.S. per share from $0.01 U.S. per share, in the prior-year quarter.
The company attributed this to a 12% growth in license revenues and synergies from the acquisition of Vignette.
Wireless communications service provider BCE Inc was up 1.70% after it said it swung to profit in the fourth quarter, reporting net earnings of $0.46 per share, as against a net loss of $0.06 in the year ago quarter.
Fuel cell product maker Ballard Power Systems added 1.68% even after reporting a 13% dip in its fourth quarter revenue at $16.5 million, after it exited from automotive and residential co-generation development programs.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that building permits rose a sequential 2.4% in December and was up 32.6% from a year ago period. The rise was largely due to a jump in non-residential sector.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.92 cents to 93.22 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower by noon, weighed mostly by metals and mining, off 4.4%, while materials and gold stocks lost 4.2% each.
The two gainers were information technology, up 1.8%, and health-care, ahead 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange got bruised 47.94 points to 1,466.04, while the Nasdaq Canada index had subsided 14.91 points to 716.32.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks tumbled Thursday after a rise in weekly jobless claims sent an alarm ahead of the big monthly employment report.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell back 199.22 points, or 1.9%, by midday to 10,071.33. The S&P 500 index slid 24.73 points to 1,072.55. The Nasdaq composite surrendered 46.89 points to 2,144.02.
A two-session rally petered out Wednesday after weak readings on the service sector and labor market rattled investors. The selloff picked up steam Thursday after the jobless claims report disappointed investors.
Stock declines were broad-based, with 29 of 30 Dow components sliding. Cisco Systems was the lone Dow gainer, up 1.5% following its upbeat earnings report released late Wednesday.
Bank shares tumbled, with the KBW Bank sector index falling 2.7%. Meanwhile, the VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, spiked 13%, suggesting investor nervousness was increasing.
December factory orders rose 1% versus forecasts for a rise of 0.5%. Orders rose 1% in the previous month.
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment rose to 480,000 last week from a revised 472,000 the previous week, the Labor Department reported. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 455,000 new claims.
Continuing claims, the number of Americans receiving benefits for a week or more, rose to 4,602,000 from 4,600,000 the previous week. Economists expected 4,581,000.
Investors were also awaiting Friday's monthly report on employment, the most closely watched gauge of the job market. The government report is expected to show a net gain of 15,000 jobs in January, with an unemployment rate of 10%, according to the Briefing.com consensus.
But the Bureau of Labor Statistics is also expected to issue a big downward revision to its estimate of U.S. payrolls in the 12 months from April 2008 through March 2009.
Elsewhere on the economic calendar, December factory orders rose 1% versus forecasts for a rise of 0.5%. Orders rose 1% in the previous month.
Cisco Systems posted upbeat sales and earnings after U.S. markets closed Wednesday. The results topped Wall Street's estimates.
Toyota Motor reported a profit for its most recent quarter, which ended before it began a massive recall of some of its vehicles. The company said it expects the global recall to cost as much as $2 billion U.S. On Thursday, the government announced a formal probe into brake problems in the popular Prius hybrid.
Treasury prices rose sharply, corresponding lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.61% from Wednesday's 3.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil stumbled $3.66 to $73.32 U.S.
Gold prices took a header of $44 to $1,068 U.S.
