FILE - In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen speaks with reporters at the Federal Reserve in Washington. The Federal Reserve releases minutes from December interest-rate meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015.Cliff Owen/The Associated Press
North American stocks fluctuated in midday trading Wednesday as declines in commodity shares offset a rally in Apple Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. before the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision.
The TSX composite index was off 59.52 points to 14,774.36, pressured by resource stocks as oil and metal prices fell.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.35 of a cent to 80.30 cents (U.S.)
Dow Jones industrial average climbed 36.41 points to 17,423.62. The Nasdaq jumped 9.13 points to 4,690.63 and the S&P 500 index slipped 0.05 of a point to 2,029.50.
Energy companies slumped 1.7 per cent as a group after oil retreated. Apple climbed 6.4 per cent after reporting a record $18 billion in quarterly profit, one of the biggest in corporate history. Yahoo rose 1.7 per cent after saying it will spin off its remaining stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Boeing Co. advanced 4.8 per cent as it posted a quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates.
"The energy situation is one where the price of oil is going to be an ugly thing until such time as it's not," Brian Barish, who helps oversee about $11.5 billion at Denver-based Cambiar Investors LLC.
The American Petroleum Institute said late on Tuesday that U.S. crude stocks shot up last week. That sent the price of U.S. crude oil down nearly 3 per cent, and shares of oil and gas producers on the Toronto stock market were 2.3 per cent lower on Wednesday.
"Oil is trying to settle at these levels, but it's still going to be choppy because it's come down so far, so fast," said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
"There will be more uncertainty, at least in the near term, because we're getting a so many mixed signals. We're going to see a lot of turbulence for the next several months."
In Toronto's energy sector, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. shed 1.9 per cent to C$35.94, and Suncor Energy Inc. gave back 1 per cent to C$37.24.
Cenovus Energy joined a growing list of energy producers making big cuts in their spending plans because of the fall in prices and the liklihood that they will stay low for some time. Cenovus has lowered its 2015 capital budget to between C$1.8 billion and $2 billion, which is about $700 million less than the previous estimate and more than 15 per cent below last year's spending levels. Its stock dropped 89 cents to to $23.78.
The gold-mining sector fell with the bullion price. Goldcorp Inc. was down 0.9 per cent at C$30.27, and Barrick Gold Corp. lost 0.4 per cent to C$16.20.
In New York, disappointing results from Caterpillar Inc. and Microsoft Corp. weighed on U.S. equities Tuesday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 1.7 per cent.
While the dollar's climb is reducing profits at U.S. companies from Procter & Gamble Co. to Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft, more than 77 percent of S&P 500 members have still beaten analysts' estimates so far this earnings season, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"We're looking at a brighter earnings picture [today]," Yousef Abbasi, the global market strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services LLC in New York, said by phone. "I think the Fed will be a non-event. A lot of people are expecting it to be highly reiterative of what we've seen in Fed speak for the past few weeks."
Disappointing results from Caterpillar Inc. and Microsoft Corp. weighed on U.S. equities Tuesday, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 1.7 per cent.
While the dollar's climb is reducing profits at U.S. companies from Procter & Gamble Co. to Pfizer Inc. and Microsoft, more than 77 percent of S&P 500 members have still beaten analysts' estimates so far this earnings season, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
"After spades of rather disappointing earnings, starting with Caterpillar and running through the day -- a lot of it currency related -- to see Apple blow away the numbers as they did was certainly encouraging," Mark Luschini, the chief investment strategist for Philadelphia-based Janney Montgomery Scott, which oversees about $68 billion in assets, said by phone.
Facebook Inc. and Boeing Co. are among 31 companies releasing quarterly results today.
Investors are also awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, due at 2 p.m. (ET) in Washington. While 2014 was the strongest year of employment growth in 15 years, policy makers have shown concern regarding slower growth overseas. After its December meeting, the Fed said it can be "patient" in starting to raise rates for the first time since 2006.
Fed officials will look past low inflation and stay focused on raising interest rates around mid-year, according to a narrow majority of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Some 53 percent also said the rise in the dollar against major currencies makes no difference to the timing of a rate increase.
While the U.S. has ended its bond-buying program, the European Central Bank is expanding its stimulus plan. The ECB announced last week it would spend €60-billion ($68-billion) a month starting in March on purchases of debt to ward off the threat of deflation in the euro area.
Five of 10 main industries in the S&P 500 declined. Technology shares had the largest gain, surging 1.1 percent after the biggest drop in more than three years Tuesday.
Energy shares lost 1.6 per cent, the most in two weeks, as oil tumbled as U.S. inventories rose to a three-decade high. Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Schlumberger Ltd. fell at least 1.2 percent.
Apple jumped 6.4 per cent. Net income surged 38 per cent, fuelled by sales of larger-screened iPhones and refreshed Mac computers that Apple had unveiled in September, part of a barrage of new products from Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook as he sought to revitalize the company's revenue.
Yahoo rose 1.7 per cent. The tax-free spinoff will place Yahoo's holding in the Chinese e-commerce company into a new firm called SpinCo. That firm will own all of Yahoo's shares in Alibaba, valued at about $40 billion.
Boeing gained 4.8 per cent, the most in more than a year, as it beat analysts' estimates and predicted it would make good in 2015 in converting a record jetliner-order backlog into cash. Investors have been waiting to see Boeing start generating more cash from its plane orders and stem losses on the 787 Dreamliner.
AT&T Inc. advanced for the first time in five sessions, adding 1 per cent, after the wireless carrier topped profit and sales projections as more customers than analysts estimated were lured in by the company's phone and tablet promotions.
With files from Reuters and The Canadian Press