Stocks Seeing Continued Weakness In Mid-Afternoon Trading

Equities experienced a considerable run up over the course of the past two months, prompting some traders to cash in their gains earlier this week. The move out of stocks has come as earnings season winds down and ahead of an expected lull in the summer months.Before the opening bell, traders digested data from the Labor Department that showed consumer prices were unchanged in April after edging down by an unrevised 0.1 percent in March. The lack of growth in consumer prices came in line with the economists’ expectations.The report also showed that the core consumer price index, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent in April after rising 0.2 percent in each of the three previous months. Economists had expected core prices to edge up 0.1 percent.Separately, the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 67.9 in May compared to a reading of 65.1 for April. The index came in above analyst estimates of a reading of 67.0. Additional economic data came from the Federal Reserve, which released a report showing industrial production fell 0.5 percent in April, following a revised 1.7 percent decrease in March. Economists had been expecting production to fall 0.6 percent.

Energy, Mining Stocks Drag TSX Lower - Canadian Commentary

The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 86.35 points or 0.87% to settle at 9,762.85. The index has lost more than 4.5% from last Friday’s close above 10,200.Energy stocks dropped 2.5% as crude oil plunged more than $2 on the NYMEX on demand worries. Canadian Oil Sands (COS.UN.TO) is down 4.1%, Savanna (SVY.TO) has lost 3.7%, Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) declined 3.8% and Encana (ECA.TO) fell 1.8%.Petro-Canada (PCA.TO) lost 2.6% after investment company Letko Brosseau & Associates said it will vote against the $16.5 million takeover bid from Suncor (SU.TO). Suncor fell 2.8% for the day.Meanwhile, Epsilon Energy (EPS.TO) surged 10.3% after reporting first quarter revenues increased to C$1.71 million from C$1.54 million in the previous year quarter. Net loss widened to $0.02 per share, compared to $0.01 per share a year ago.Mining stocks saw a 2.4% drop as copper finished modestly lower to add to its weekly slump. Denison Mines Corp. (DML.TO) fell 8.9% after Credit Suisse downgraded the shares to Underperform from Neutral, while increasing its price target to C$1.75 from C$1.45.Fronteer Development Group Inc. (FRG.TO) added 0.3% after the company reported a net loss for the first quarter of C$5.45 million or C$0.06 per share, in comparison with a net loss of C$6.22 million or C$0.07 per share in the prior year quarter.

Lithuania Producer Prices Decline In April

In April, manufacturing production decreased 17.9% on an annual basis, while mining and quarrying production dipped 19.4%. However, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply production rose 14.4%.On a monthly basis, producer prices declined 0.2% in April, after falling a revised 1.1% in March.