North American stocks were down during midday trading on Wednesday, but were well above their earlier lows even after another round of disappointing U.S. economic news.
At noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 16 points or 0.2 per cent, to 10,024. It had slumped below the 10,000-threshold soon after trading began. The broader S&P 500 was down 3 points or 0.3 per cent, to 1048.
The modest setback for stocks, which extends their recent losing streak, follows worse-than-expected readings on durable goods orders and new home sales for July.
Energy stocks were the worst performers within the S&P 500, falling 1 per cent after the price of crude oil fell close to $71 (U.S.) a barrel. Utilities fell 0.9 per cent and materials fell 0.8 per cent.
However, health care stocks, telecom services and information technology stocks showed modest gains.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 3 points, to 11,554.
Telecom services were the biggest laggards, falling 1.3 per cent, following strong gains earlier in the week. Energy stocks fell 0.9 per cent and consumer staples fell 0.8 per cent.
Information technology stocks rose 2.1 per cent, after Research In Motion Ltd. reversed some of its earlier losses. Materials rose 0.9 per cent after strong gains from gold producers offset a slight setback for Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc.
Meanwhile, financials rose 0.1 per cent after Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reported better-than-expected earnings for the fiscal third quarter.