TSX Tumbles amid weak u.s. JOBS data

The Toronto stock market closed sharply lower Wednesday as investors sold off across most sectors and commodities tumbled as indications of slowing growth in the Chinese and American economies raised another round of concerns.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 135.21 points to 12,321.29, led by steep declines in mining and energy stocks, amid a heavy slate of earnings reports.

The Canadian dollar closed down 0.06 of a cent to US99.2¢. There was at least one bit of good news: the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it will carry on with its economic stimulus measures for some time to come. That means interest rates stay near zero until the jobless rate hits 6.5% from its current level of 7.6%.

“This is a steady-as-she-goes Fed, one that won’t be much moved by small swings in the data until we get a long enough string of positive news to alter course,” said Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets. Payroll firm ADP said private sector job creation came in at 119,000 in April, much lower than expectations of 150,000.

The report came out two days before the release of the U.S. government’s employment report for last month. Job growth in March widely missed expectations, coming in at 88,000. Indexes were further depressed by other data showing declining expansion in the American manufacturing sector. And construction spending fell 1.7% in March after rising 1.5% in February.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 138.85 points to 14,700.95, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 29.66 points to 3,299.13 and the S&P 500 index gave back 14.87 points to 1,582.7. Commodity prices also moved lower after data showed a slowdown in China’s manufacturing growth. The metals and mining sector dropped 1.45% as July copper fell 11 cents to US$3.08 a pound. China is the world’s biggest consumer of the metal. fell 44 cents to C$17.15. The gold sector also was down about 2.35% as June bullion in New York dropped $25.90 to US$1,446.20 an ounce. faded 75¢ to C$29.07. The energy sector fell 2% as the weak manufacturing data sent June crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange down $2.43 to US$91.03 a barrel.

lost US55¢ to C$29. posted a quarterly net loss of US$213-million, or US21¢ per share compared with a profit of US$291-million, or US28¢ per share, a year earlier. Its shares gave back US58¢ to US$11.50. Elsewhere on the earnings front, jumped US$2, or 4.68%, to $44.75 as it reported a 40% increase in first-quarter net income to US$171-million or US61¢ per share while revenue rose to US$7.2 billion from US$6.94 -billion.