Canadian Stocks Slide Global Economic Doubts -- Canadian Commentary

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are drifting lower Wednesday morning, amid concerns about euro zone economy on the back of another disappointing economic report from Germany.

Financial, energy and consumer staples stocks are among the prominent losers. Miners are forcing their way up after recent losses.

According to data released today, business confidence in Germany weakened for a fifth straight month in September, raising fears the largest economy in the euro zone is set to see a slow recovery.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 58.27 points or 0.39 percent at 15,067.40, after having declined to 15,005.62 earlier.

On Tuesday, the index closed down 3.33 points or 0.02 percent at 15,125.67, having lost significant ground in the previous two sessions.

The Financial Index is down 1 percent, with the big six banks declining by 0.7 to 2 percent.

Insurance stocks Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC.TO), Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF.TO) and Power Corporation of Canada (POW.TO) are also down in negative territory, losing 0.7 to 1 percent.

The Energy Index is down 1.3 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. (SU:TSX) Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ:TSX) Encana Corporation (ECA:TSX) Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG:TSX) Cenovus Energy Inc. (CVE:TSX) Imperial Oil Limited (IMO:TSX)

The Consumer Staples Index is down nearly 1 percent, while the Industrial Index is lower by about 0.3 percent.

With mining stocks rebounding after recent losses, the Diversified Metals & Mining Index is advancing 1.5 percent. Sherritt International Corporation (S.TO) is rising 3.7 percent, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) is up 2.7 percent, and Lundin Mining Corporation (LUN.TO) is moving up nearly 3 percent, while Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. (TRQ.TO) and HudBay Minerals (HBM.TO) are adding 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

BlackBerry Ltd (BB.TO) is up 2.7 percent after the company launched its new smartphone 'Passport' this morning.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (VRX.TO) is rising 5 percent after the company said it expects same store organic growth unadjusted for generics to exceed 15 percent in third quarter.

Valeant also said it has sent a letter to Allergan, Inc. (AGN), issuing an update on Valeant's expected third-quarter results and expressing continued willingness to negotiate a mutually agreeable transaction with Allergan.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.TO) is advancing 1.2 percent. The company is reportedly in discussion with an unidentified airline which may well become the first operator of Bomabrdier's CSeries jet.

In commodities, crude oil futures for November are down $0.09 or 0.10 percent at $91.47 a barrel.

Natural gas for November is up $0.007 or 0.19 percent at $3.876 per million btu.

Gold futures for December are down $3.60 or 0.29 percent at $1,218.40 an ounce.

Silver for December is down $0.126 or 0.71 percent at $17.653 an ounce, after having dropped down to a four-year low earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, copper is up $0.017 or 0.57 percent at $3.052 per pound.

In economic news from the U.S., a report from the Commerce Department showed new home sales to have surged up 18.0 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 in August, from the revised July rate of 427,000. Economists had been expecting new home sales to climb to an annual rate of 430,000.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Wednesday that euro area interest rates are likely to remain low for a long period of time and the bank is ready to use all possible tools to bring inflation back to the 2 percent target.

"Interest rates will stay at the present level for an extended period of time because they can't go much lower than that," he said.