Dundee Industrial prepares to make splash with big IPOFrank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Toronto stock market was lower shortly after the open on Tuesday morning, as commodity prices pulled back.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 44.69 points to 12,402.17 while the TSX Venture Exchange inched down 0.23 of a point to 1,316.93.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.02 to 102.51 cents US.
Commodity prices were lower with October crude off 70 cents to US$95.92 a barrel.
December copper was down 2.7 cents at US$3.77 a pound while December bullion fell $6.10 to US$1,764.50 an ounce.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials were down 29.89 points to 13,523.21, the Nasdaq composite index backed off 8.12 points to 3,170.55, while the S&P 500 index slid 4.57 points to 1,456.62.
Top of mind are concerns about the global economy, and a delay in Spain's acceptance of a financial aid package. The country's markets have improved in recent weeks on expectations that the government will get some form of rescue loan from the 16 other eurozone countries. But Madrid has not made any formal request yet, likely wary of the policy conditions that would come attached.
The delay pushed the country's bond yields sharply higher on Monday, suggesting an increase in investor concern about the government's finances. The yields eased back somewhat on Tuesday after a bond auction was well-received. The sale of 12- and 18-month debt saw strong demand and resulted in lower interest rates than in the previous such auctions.
Meanwhile, FedEx is adding to the tensions after saying that the global economy is worsening. The company is cutting its forecast again for the full-year that ends in May.
FedEx is widely considered a barometer of the global economy because it serves a broad slate of industries.
U.S. hedge fund Mason Capital Management says the B.C. Court of Appeal will hear its challenge of a ruling in favour of Telus (TSX:T) (TSX:T.A). A lower court decision prevents Mason from holding a meeting for only Telus voting shareholders on Oct. 17, the same day that the telecom company plans a meeting for both classes of shareholders.
Mason is opposed to Telus's plan for eliminating its dual-class share structure without paying a premium to voting shareholders, including itself, to reflect the higher value of their shares on the open market. Telus' voting shares rose 14 cents to $61.33.
Elsewhere, Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.7 per cent to 5,852.62 and Germany's DAX shed 0.8 per cent to 7,342.74. France's CAC-40 lost 0.8 per cent to 3,524.09.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 per cent to 9,123.77. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.3 per cent to 20,601.93 and Australia's S&P ASX/200 fell 0.2 per cent to 4,394.70.