Stocks Fall Before U.S. Data
May 18, 2011
The Toronto Stock Exchange's 300 composite index fell 27.52 to 5136.25, after gaining 11.88 Wednesday. Declining issues outnumbered advancers, 531 to 347. Volume totaled 89.2 million shares valued at 1.25 million Canadian dollars, up from Wednesday's 72.2 million shares valued at C$926.9 million. Georgeanna Loving, research director at Bunting Warburg Inc., said this week's losses will continue to drag down the market next week if the U.S. jobs report fails to wipe out inflation fears. A strong U.S. jobs report would boost inflation fears. Rising prices, accompanied by rising interest rates, traditionally lead to a sell-off in equities. Toronto slightly outperformed New York Thursday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 49.94 to 5606.96. All but one of the TSE's 14 stock groups fell, with the heavily weighted gold index down 0.55%, as Barrick Gold declined 0.20 to 37.50. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the gold price ended virtually flat, inching up 10 U.S. cents to US$385.50 an ounce. The relatively small real estate group led declining sectors, dropping 1.65%. Consumer products countered the sell-off, rising 0.55%, mainly on the strength of Seagram, which gained 0.80 to 46.00 on stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
