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TORON TO • The Toronto stock market was lower Wednesday, weighed down by some earnings misses and falling mining stocks amid data that showed a deepening slowdown in China’s manufacturing sector.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 73.08 points to 12,672.3 as gold stocks gave up a chunk of the gains racked up during July.
The Canadian dollar shed early gains and dipped 0.29 of a cent against the U.S. dollar to US96.94¢. The greenback strengthened in the wake of positive news on new home sales along with a higher reading from financial information company Markit, which reported its July flash purchasing managers’ index for the U.S. manufacturing sector rose to 53.2, the highest it’s been in four months.
U.S. indexes were lower amid strong earnings reports from the likes of Apple Inc. and Ford Motor Co.
A weak report from heavy equipment maker Caterpillar helped push the Dow Jones industrials down 25.5 points to 15,542.24, the Nasdaq added 0.33 of a point to 3,579.6 and the S&P 500 index was off 6.45 points to 1,685.94.
Meanwhile, in Canada, Cenovus Energy Inc. had $255 million or 34¢ per share in operating earnings and a $179-million net profit in the second quarter. The operating earnings were below a consensus estimate of 48¢. Its shares fell $1.76 to $30.49.
Canadian Pacific Railway posted net income for the second-quarter of $252 million, or $1.43 per diluted share, versus $103 million, or 60¢ per share, a year earlier. The earnings missed estimates and its stock dropped 2.1% to $127.44.
But the stock was off session lows as the railroad’s operating ratio, which is a key measure of how efficiently railways operate, improved to 71.9% in the second quar ter, an all-time record for the railroad.
“(CEO) Hunter Harrison has actually de livered,” said Chris King, portfolio manager at Morgan, Meighen and Associates. “For him to move it down to that level, man that tells you he is the god of railways.”
On a more positive note, Rogers Com munications Inc. shares were ahead 72¢ to $41.95 as the company reported $497 mil lion in quarterly adjusted net income, a 4% increase from last year and better than analysts’ consensus estimate of $491.95 million.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. made $178 mil lion in net earnings in the second quarter up from $156 million in the same period a year ago. The grocer’s basic net earnings per common share rose 14.5% in the quar ter to 63¢, about five cents per share bet ter than a consensus estimate compiled by Thomson Reuters and its shares advanced $1.52 to $49.46.
In the U.S., Facebook stock soared 17% in after-hours trading to US$30.56 as the social networking company posted earnings and revenue after the close that beat expectations.
Other economic news showed that Americans snapped up new homes in June at the fastest pace in five years. The Commerce Department says sales rose 8.3% to a seasonally adjusted pace of 497,000 That’s up from 459,000 in May, which was revised lower.