Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, July 24, 2013.Brendan McDermid/Reuters
The Toronto stock market was down in early trading as questions percolate over the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve's removal of monetary stimulus by tapering off its current bond-buying program.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 18.32 points to 12,451.
Comments from Fed Reserve officials have been in focus over the past day after two regional presidents said that the central bank could make its moves to slow stimulus in the shorter term, though the exact timing was left to interpretation.
On Wall Street, the Dow was down 56.50 points to 15,462.24, the Nasdaq fell 6.98 points to 3,658.79 and the S&P 500 was down 5.74 points to 1,691.63.
In commodities, December bullion pulled back 10 cents to US$1,282.40 an ounce. The September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 55 cents to US$104.75 a barrel.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.42 of a cent to 95.96 cents US.