Stocks ended the day on Tuesday with slight losses, ending a three-day winning streak amid more concerns about violence in Libya after a U.S. fighter plane crashed.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,018.63, down 17.90 points or 0.2 per cent. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1293.77, down 4.61 points or 0.4 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 14,000.00 (yes, a very round number), down 13.70 points or 0.1 per cent.
Crude oil prices, which had been down slightly at the start of the day, rebounded, closing in New York at $104.97 (U.S.) a barrel, up $1.88 - the highest level since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11. The rebound appeared to coincide with news that a U.S. fighter plane had crashed, raising anxiety levels about violence in the region even though enemy fire wasn't suspected in the crash.
Commodity producers were fairly weak, though. Suncor Energy Inc. rose 0.2 per cent but Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. fell 1.7 per cent and Exxon Mobil Corp. fell 0.3 per cent. Among other commodity producers, Alcoa Inc. fell 0.6 per cent and Teck Resources Ltd. fell 1.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc. rose 1.3 per cent after some investors bet that the company could benefit indirectly from AT&T's $39-billion proposed takeover of T-Mobile USA.
General Electric Co. fell 1.2 per cent and Walgreen Co. fell 6.6 per cent after announcing its quarterly earnings.
Bank of Montreal fell 0.2 per cent, despite talking up the prospect of its U.S. operations generating $1-billion (U.S.) in earnings annually in the medium term. Royal Bank of Canada fell 0.1 per cent but Toronto-Dominion Bank rose 0.7 per cent.
Research In Motion Ltd. announced that it would start selling its Playbook tablet computers on April 19. The shares seesawed throughout the day, closing up 0.3 per cent.