Oil dipped below $50.00 a barrel at one point today, dragging some of the TSX’s energy stocks along with it.
The energy sector slipped 0.7 percent, led lower by a 1.6 percent dip by Baytex Energy and a 3.2 percent fall in Encana Corporation shares.
But a 2.3 percent rise in industrial giant Bombardier and a five percent increase in commercial financing company ENC Capital Corporation helped balance out the losses as the TSX edged three points higher.
Oil pared some of its earlier losses but still dropped 72 cents to $50.73 US a barrel as a glut in global inventories overshadowed a potential cut in production by the world’s major oil producers, when they meet next week.
Meanwhile, a StatsCan report showed that Canada’s economic growth had slowed to an annualized rate of two percent in the third quarter, compared with a 2.9 percent pace in the second quarter.
StatsCan also reported that household spending slowed slowed from 0.6 percent in the second quarter to 0.3 percent in the third quarter, while investment in new residential construction declined 4.7 percent, the largest decrease since the second quarter of 2009.
In New York, the Dow climbed 199 points on renewed optimism of a trade deal between the U.S. and China, ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit in Argentina.
The two will meet on the sidelines as they look to work out their differences on trade, with the U.S. and China mired in an ongoing tariff dispute.
The consumer sector helped pushed up the index, led by rises in Walmart and Coca Cola.
The Nasdaq moved 57 points into the green with jumps in Intel and Nvidia.
But Apple backpedaled another 0.5 percent as the battered tech giant struggles to regain its footing after reports of weak iPhone demand.
The Canadian dollar lost 5/100ths of a cent $0.7522 US while gold dropped $2.90 to $1,225 an ounce.
