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Bank of Canada Governor Stephen PolozBLAIR GABLE/Reuters

The Toronto stock market was lower ahead of the latest interest rate announcement by the Bank of Canada and positive jobs data from the United States.

The S&P/TSX composite index was 100.4 points lower at 15,033.42, weighed down by mining and tech stocks.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.17 of a U.S. cent to 79.89 cents ahead of the central bank's mid-morning announcement. Analysts generally expect the bank to hold the line on interest rates following its surprise quarter-point cut in January.

New York indexes were in the red as payroll firm ADP reported that the American private sector created 212,000 jobs in last month, slightly below expectations of 219,000. The data was released two days ahead of the U.S. government's February report on job growth. Economists generally expect the American economy to have created a total of 235,000 jobs last month.

The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 136.6 points to 18,064.76, the Nasdaq declined 32.3 points to 4,947.60 and the S&P 500 index was down 15.6 points at 2,092.18.

Oil in New York was up 36 cents to US$50.88 a barrel.

U.S. stocks fell for a second day from Monday's record levels before a meeting of European Central Bank policy makers and Friday's government jobs report.

"We had a nice little run here and I just think we're running out of gas," Michael Block, chief equity strategist at Rhino Trading Partners LLC in New York, said by phone. "There's not any leadership in stocks among sectors. The ECB should sound accommodative and the jobs report this week should be good, so if we can't push higher after that then we've got a problem."

While the S&P 500 rose to fresh records four times in February, its 2.4 per cent gain this year trails all but two of the 24 developed markets. The measure is trading near the highest valuation in five years. The Dow in January posted its best month in two years.

The Nasdaq Composite Index is within 1.4 percent of a record reached in 2000. It has taken two bull markets and more than 4,500 days for the Nasdaq to get close to making up all the ground lost in the dot-com collapse. The index surged 7.1 percent in February, its best month since 2012.

Economic reports this week could give clues on when the U.S. Federal Reserve may increase its benchmark interest rate. Companies in the U.S. added 212,000 workers to payrolls in February, figures from Roseland, New Jersey-based ADP Research Institute showed. The median projection of 46 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for an advance of 219,000. The January reading was revised to 250,000 from a previously reported advance of 213,000.

The data comes before the Labor Department's report Friday in which economists predict nonfarm payrolls rose 235,000 last month and the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 per cent from 5.7 per cent in January.

The Institute for Supply Management's February non-manufacturing index this morning is forecast by economists to remain unchanged at 57.0. The Fed, which next meets in March 17-18, will release its Beige Book survey of economic conditions at 2:00 p.m. in Washington.

Investors are also awaiting details of the European Central Bank's debt-purchase program on Thursday. ECB President Mario Draghi on Jan. 22 announced a 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion U.S.) quantitative-easing plan to counter slowing growth and the threat of deflation, spurring a rally across equity markets worldwide.

Costco Wholesale Corp. and Staples Inc. are among S&P 500 members reporting later this week. With almost all companies having released earnings by now, 74 percent beat profit projections and 56 per cent topped sales estimates for the final three months of 2014. Analysts predict profit at S&P 500 companies will drop 4.9 per cent in the current quarter.

With files from Bloomberg News

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