Feb. 3, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks failed to hold on to their early gains in mid-morning deals Wednesday. With commodity prices leveling off, profit taking was seen at higher levels after the main index gained nearly 3% in the past two sessions. By noon, the S&P/TSX Composite Index had faded 34.60 points to 11,373.74 The Material Index was up, as Agrium rose 1.71% and Ivanhoe Mines gathered 2.52%. Meanwhile, Inmet Mining slipped 2.06%. In the financials space, National Bank of Canada slipped 0.31% and Bank of Nova Scotia gave in 0.44%. Among gold plays, Iamgold Corp. added 0.71% after announcing plans to hike its gold output to about one million ounces in 2010 from the 0.93 million ounces in 2009, helped by new mine at Burkina Faso. The Energy index was down, with Canadian Oil Sands Trust slipping 0.97%. Imperial Oil shed 0.99% after announcing that its fourth-quarter net income fell to $0.62 per share from $0.76 per share for the same period of 2008. Meanwhile, oil and natural gas distributor Enbridge Inc. edged up 0.62% after it said its fourth-quarter earnings applicable to common shareholders increased to $0.80 per share from $0.71 per share in the prior year period. Further, it announced a quarterly dividend increase of 15% to $0.425 per common share effective March 1, 2010. Canadian Natural Resources moved up 1.03% after Goldman Sachs added the stock to "conviction buy" list. Biotechnology company Labopharm added 3.30% after it said it got approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its antidepressant, enabling its release later this year. Potash Corp. gained 3.50% on news that Russian based distributor Belarusian Potash has hiked potash prices in tandem with the recovery in demand. Airlines operator WestJet edged up 0.385 after it announced that its January traffic load factor was 78.8%, up from 76.8% last year. Semiconductor maker Mosaid Technologies surrendered 4.86% after announcing plans to sell at least 1.25 million shares at $21.65 a share. The Canadian dollar slid 0.30 cents to 94.20 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, all but two were in negative territory by midday. Metals and mining stocks faltered 2.8%, while global base metals lost 1.6% and telecoms gave up 1% worth of strength. The two winners were real-estate, growing 0.7%, and materials, eking out a 0.1% gain. The TSX Venture Exchange was 5.64 points off at 1,511.43, while the Nasdaq Canada index was ahead 9.79 points to 725.92. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities churned in uneasy trading Wednesday morning as investors showed caution after a two-day rally amid questions about the outlook for the labour market. The Dow Jones industrial average subsided 50.86 points to 10,245.99. The S&P 500 index slid 7.81 points to 1,095.51. The Nasdaq composite gave back 8.24 points to 2,181.82. A rally on Wall Street helped the blue-chip Dow post its second straight gain of more than 100 points on Tuesday. Stocks have gained recently amid solid earnings and signs of stabilization in the economy. Time Warner reported sales and earnings that rose from a year ago, in its first quarterly report without AOL in a decade. The media company benefited from strength in its TV and movie divisions, as well as some cost cutting at its Time Inc. brand. Shares fell 1% in morning trading. AOL -- in its first quarter in a decade as a stand-alone Internet firm -- said it swung to a profit of $1.4 billion U.S. from a loss of $1.9 billion U.S. a year ago. Shares were little changed. News Corp. reported quarterly earnings and revenue that jumped from a year earlier and topped expectations in a report released after the close Tuesday. Shares gained 5% Wednesday morning. Troubles keep growing for Toyota Motor. U.S. federal investigators are looking into whether electronics caused the problem with the automaker's recalled gas pedals. Two reports on employment came out before U.S. markets opened Wednesday. Outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that January job cuts surged to a five-month high of 71,482. But the ADP payroll report showed a decline in job cuts, to a loss of 22,000 jobs in January, compared to the revised loss of 61,000 jobs in December. Thursday brings the weekly jobless claims report, while Friday brings the big monthly report. Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.66% from Tuesday's 3.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil slipped 21 cents to $77.02 U.S. Gold prices docked two dollars to $1,116 U.S.