Existing-home sales in U.S. fell 0.2% last month from June
Province
Townhouses remain on sale in Dallas, Tex., yesterday, as stocks related to natural resources were the worst affected by housing-market news that casts a negative light on the U.S. economy. Photograph by : Reuters
TORONTO — The Toronto Stock Exchange took a moderate retreat yesterday following last week’s impressive gains and some housing-industry numbers in the U.S. that reminded everyone where the recent subprime-mortgage/credit-crunch crisis started.
Profit-taking contributed to the slide as investors cashed in after the S&P/TSX Composite Index posted its best Monday-Friday gain in more than four years the previous week. Yesterday, however, it fell 32.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 13,487.43.
The Venture Composite Index was down 6.8 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,632.68 while the dollar was down 21 basis points to 94.85 cents US.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones was down 56.74 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 13,322.13. The Nasdaq was down 15.44 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 2,561.25. The S&P 500 Index fell 12.58 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 1,466.79.
There was some negative reaction on Bay Street to a report from the National Association of Realtors that existing-home sales in the U.S. fell 0.2 per cent last month from June, and the supply of unsold single-family homes, at 4.59 million, hit its highest level since 1991.
“The housing market has been a very large part of what has happened in the U.S. over the last little while, whether it be from escalating prices, first of all, and inflation, to all of a sudden the turnaround because of subprime mortgages and a huge number of homes coming up in listings through foreclosures, and a number of other things,” said Fred Ketchen, director of equity trading with Scotia McLeod in Toronto.
As was the case yesterday on the TSX, stocks related to natural resources tended be the worst affected by news that casts a negative light on the U.S. economy, where almost 90 per cent of Canadian exports go.
The metals-and-mining index was down 1.1 per cent. Inmet Mining Corp. stock fell $3.01, or 3.5 per cent, to $83.15. Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. was down 26 cents, or 2.1 per cent, to $11.96.
The materials index was down 0.8 per cent. Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., the world’s biggest producer of fertilizer, was down $1.61, or 1.8 per cent, to $90.36. Barrick Gold Corp., the biggest gold producer globally, saw its stock fall 83 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $33.88.
© The Vancouver Province 2007