Markets sink into red

The Toronto stock market lost momentum and went downward toward the end of Thursday's trading session, a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest move to support the U.S. economy.

The S&P TSX Composite Index faded 74.89 points to end the session at 12,464.32

The Canadian dollar gained 0.29 cents to 99.85 cents U.S., after verging toward its first close above parity with the U.S. dollar since the end of October

The energy sector declined and Suncor Energy slipped four cents to $34.75.

The mining sector suffered, even as the March copper contract in New York gained seven cents to $3.90 U.S. a pound. Copper prices have surged more than 13% during January amid signs of an improving economic conditions in the U.S. and China, which is the world's biggest consumer of copper.

The metal has a reputation as an economic bellwether since it is used in so many businesses. Teck Resources ran up 40 cents to $42.87.

The gold sector climbed as Barrick Gold Corp. improved by 39 cents to $48.99.

The financials sector was the major decliner, with Manulife Financial down 64 cents to $11.91 while Bank of Nova Scotia declined 79 cents to $52.73.

It was also a busy earnings day for Canadian companies.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. reported fourth-quarter net income of $221 million, an increase from $186 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew to $1.4 billion from $1.29 billion and its shares spent much of the day in negative country, before closing unchanged at to $71.65.

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. said its profits grew in the fourth quarter to $683 million U.S. or 78 cents a share, up from $508 million a year ago. However, earnings were 11 cents short of expectations.

Sales grew to $1.87 billion from $1.81 billion and its shares gained 51 cents to $45.99.

Economically speaking, payroll numbers were presented by Statistics Canada this morning, saying that in November, average non-farm weekly earnings were fairly static at $883.96, but 2.2% higher than the same month in 2010.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 10.72 points to 1,614.77, while the Nasdaq Canada index inched up 0.24 points to 406.73.

All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative on the day. Financials slid 1.8%, while consumer discretionaries skidded 1.1%, and energy issues lost 0.9%.

The three gainers were led by gold and materials, each surging 0.8%, while information technology improved 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, stocks edged lower Thursday as investors digested a mixed batch of corporate earnings results and remained cautious amid lackluster economic data and ongoing debt talks in Greece.

The Dow Jones Industrials sank 22.33 points by the close to 12,734.60.

The S&P 500 went down 7.61 points to 1,318.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index subtracted 13.03 points to 2,805.28.

The three major indexes started higher but gave up gains throughout the day, and are on track to end in the red.

Disappointing data on the housing market (see below) forced investors to turn cautious, according to some experts.

Fourth-quarter corporate results were also in the spotlight. Caterpillar and 3M, which both posted better-than-expected earnings, were the best performers on the Dow, while Netflix was the biggest winner on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq, with shares surging more than 20%.

Late Wednesday, the streaming video and DVD-by-mail company topped earnings and sales expectations. Netflix said it began to add customers again last quarter, after a series of blunders damaged its reputation with consumers and investors.

JCPenney and LSI were also big gainers among the S&P 500, after the companies delivered upbeat forecasts for the first quarter of 2012.

On the flip side, AT&T was the biggest laggard on the Dow after it reported quarterly earnings that fell short of forecasts. Disappointing results from SanDisk also weighed on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

E*Trade was the worst performing stock in the S&P 500, after the company posted an unexpected fourth-quarter loss

Nokia shares climbed after the mobile phone maker posted a fourth-quarter loss of €1.1 billion, with sales down 21% compared to the same period a year earlier. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said the Finnish company has sold more than one million Lumia devices, a smartphone using Microsoft (MST) Windows Phone software.

Investors are also still waiting for news out of Athens, where Greek officials are negotiating with private-sector creditors to reduce the country's debt burden.

A stall or end to the talk, however, would be a major concern. Greece is in desperate need of an agreement to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Without these funds, the country may not be able to make a €14-billion debt payment that's due March 20.

On the economic beat, new home sales tumbled to a record low in 2011, according to government data released Thursday. Just 302,000 new homes were sold in 2011, 6.2% below 2010 and the lowest number of annual sales since the government started tracking home sales in 1963, the report showed.

Elsewhere, initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 21 rose to 377,000, up from a revised 356,000 the week prior, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Economists had anticipated 375,000 claims, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.

Durable orders for the month of December rose 3% in December. Economists had expected orders to have risen 2%.

The Conference Board's Leading Economic Indicators Index for December rose 0.4%. Economists were expecting the index to rise by 0.7%.

Treasury prices for the 10-year note leaped, lowering yields to 1.93% from Wednesday's 2.01%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil for February delivery were stronger by 36 cents to $99.76 U.S. a barrel.

Gold futures for February delivery gained $26.60 to $1,726.70 U.S. an ounce.