Trader Gregory Rowe works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 24.Richard Drew/The Associated Press
Canada's main stock fell on Wednesday, weighed by declines for financial shares, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Canadian National Railway Co., while gold mining stocks were boosted by higher gold prices.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index unofficially closed down 73.34 points, or 0.45 per cent, at 16,284.21. Eight of the index's 10 main groups ended lower
One of the largest decliner on the index was Valeant, down 11.6 per cent to $24.51, after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the stock with a "sell" rating.
CN Rail fell 2.1 per cent to $98.01 after reporting a lower-than-expected adjusted profit for the fourth quarter, hurt by the heavy expenses its has incurred to grow its business.
The financial services sector, which accounts for more than one-third of the index's weight, dropped 0.6 per cent.
Royal Bank of Canada was down 1.3 per cent to $106.01, while Toronto-Dominon Bank fell 0.6 per cent to $74.04.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added 1 per cent.
Gold prices reached their highest level in more than four months after a U.S. official welcomed a weaker dollar and investors sought insurance against uncertainty.
Yamana Gold Inc. climbed 2.5 per cent to $4.54 and Barrick Gold Corp. was up 0.5 per cent at $18.54.
Marijuana producer CanniMed Therapeutics Inc jumped 11.7 per cent to $41.90 after Aurora Cannabis Inc., Canada's second-biggest producer, agreed to buy the company for $1.1-billion. Shares of Aurora fell 5.5 per cent to $13.98.
The energy group fell 0.3 per cent despite higher oil prices.
Suncor Energy Inc. was down 1.7 per cent to $45.95, while Imperial Oil Ltd. fell 0.7 per cent to $40.18.
Other decliners included Rogers Communications Inc., which fell 1.7 per cent to $60.92, and BCE Inc., which was down 0.9 per cent to $57.20.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.75 per cent higher at 81.05 U.S. cents.
The S&P 500 was little changed on Wednesday while the Nasdaq lagged in choppy trading in the wake of comments by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross which hinted at action against China in a trade war.
Mr. Ross said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that U.S. trade authorities were investigating whether there is a case for taking action over China's infringements of intellectual property.
U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak in Davos on Thursday.
Equities were initially lifted by another round of solid earnings and a drop in the dollar, which supports large multinational companies, before the trade comments sent the S&P down as much as 0.5 per cent.
The Dow and S&P were able to recover from the losses as investors chose to wait for concrete action on trade and stay involved in a market that hasn't seen a 5-per-cent correction in nearly 400 trading days.
"The trend is higher and it is so universally, and with such conviction believed that any meaningful pullback is going to be aborted because investors simply don't want to miss out," said Peter Kenny, senior market strategist at Global Markets Advisory Group in New York.
"So we are not seeing that healthy pullback that most investors would actually welcome."
The U.S. dollar fell 0.98 per cent against a basket of currencies after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomed the currency's weakness.
Worries about a protectionist stance have added to the dollar's woes after Mr. Trump slapped steep tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels on Monday.
Bank stocks were among the gainers, tracking a rise in U.S. Treasury yields as the dollar struggled. The S&P financial index rose 0.68 percent as the best performing of the major sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41.31 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 26,252.12, the S&P 500 lost 1.6 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 2,837.54 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 45.23 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 7,415.06.
Earnings season continues to be strong, with S&P 500 growth expected at 12.4 per cent, according to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning. Of the 88 companies in the index that have posted results, 78.4 per cent have topped expectations versus the 72 per cent beat rate for the past four quarters.
Among those posting results, General Electric fell 2.66 per cent after the company revealed a regulatory investigation of a multibillion-dollar insurance charge.
The company in its earnings report forecast further weakening of its troubled power business and reported a $10-billion loss and a 5-per-cent fall in revenue.
Abbott Laboratories jumped 4.20 per cent after quarterly profit and 2018 adjusted earnings forecast beat estimates.
Semiconductor stocks were off 2.31 per cent and pulled the Nasdaq lower as Texas Instruments slumped 8.50 per cent after it posted the slowest revenue growth in four quarters on softer demand for its chips used in communications equipment.
Oil prices rallied on heavy volume on Wednesday, boosted by a record 10th straight weekly decline in U.S. crude inventories, though reduced refining activity and rising production signaled U.S. stocks could rise in coming weeks.
U.S. crude inventories fell by 1.1 million barrels last week, short of expectations, but the 10-week streak of declines represents a record, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data going back to 1982. At 411.6 million barrels, stocks are at their lowest since February 2015.
The steady draw has triggered record buying by speculators, pushing oil benchmarks to three-year highs.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures settled up $1.14, or 1.8 per cent, to $65.80. Brent futures gained 57 cents to $70.53 a barrel. Both benchmarks were at their highest since December 2014.
More than 830,000 U.S. crude contracts changed hands, far exceeding the daily average of 618,000 contracts over the last 10 months.
Also supporting oil prices was a 0.7 percent drop in the U.S. dollar after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's comments that a weaker currency was positive for American trade. A weaker dollar makes greenback-denominated commodities less expensive for investors using other currencies.
U.S. crude production rose to 9.9 million barrels per day last week, nearing the all-time record of 10.04 million bpd set in 1970, the EIA data showed.
Stockpiles continued to decline at the storage hub of Cushing, Okla., falling to 39.2 million barrels, lowest since January 2015. Reduced flows from the Keystone pipeline from Canada helped drain supply there, along with further outflows from the new Diamond Pipeline.
The draw in inventories helped to narrow Brent's premium over U.S. crude to $4.91. In late December, that spread touched $7 a barrel, which spurred U.S. exports and reduced imports.
"The draws in Cushing are driving that, because Cushing is draining like a cheap canoe," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.