Investors celebrated the second anniversary of the start of the bull market by sending North American stocks into the red soon after the start of trading on Wednesday, amid growing concerns that the conflict in Libya is showing no signs of a peaceful resolution.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27 points or 0.2 per cent, to 12,187. The broader S&P 500 fell 6 points or 0.4 per cent, to 1316. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 27 points or 0.2 per cent, to 13,986.
International Business Machines Corp. rose 1.2 per cent. Defensive stocks Johnson & Johnson rose 0.3 per cent and McDonald's Corp. rose 0.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, commodity producers were generally weak. Among U.S. commodity-related stocks, DuPont fell 1.2 per cent and Caterpillar Inc. fell 1.1 per cent.
In Canada, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. fell 3.9 per cent and Barrick Gold Corp. fell 0.8 per cent. However, energy stocks were slightly higher, with Suncor Energy Inc. up 0.3 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. up 0.2 per cent.
David Berman