North American markets ended lower Tuesday, as investors responded to U.S. economic and corporate news indicating soaring oil prices are giving rise to inflationary pressures.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished down 115.85, or 1.09%, to 10.534.83.

Volume on the senior exchange was 225 million shares.

All 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy sector falling 1.78%.

After trading as high as US$66.85 and as low as US$65.50, light sweet crude for September delivery slipped a modest 19¢ to settle at US$66.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Canadian Natural fell $1.40, or 2.49%, to $54.75, while Suncor Energy Inc. declined $2.05, or 3.00%, to $66.25.

The heavily weighted financials group was off 0.75%

Toronto Dominion Bank reported it has agreed to pay out US $130 million to settle some of the legal fallout surrounding energy company Enron’s collapse. TD also said it will add US US$300 million to its reserve for a securities class-action suit pending in Texas. The bank’s shares dropped a modest 9¢, or 0.16%, to close at $55.47.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce shares fell $1.04, or 1.46%, to $70.06 a five-month low after a report emerged that the bank could face a multibillion-dollar class action lawsuit related to its recent settlement with Enron Corp investors.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished down 9.58, or 0.5%, to 1,901.09.

In New York, Wal-Mart’s failure to make second-quarter revenue expectations, which the company blamed on rising energy prices, raised worries the price of oil is finally having an effect on the U.S. consumer.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 120.93, or 1.14%, to 10,513.45. The Nasdaq composite index fell 29.98, or 1.38%, to 2,137.06, while the S&P 500 index fell 14.53, or 1.18%, to 1,219.34,

Retail giant Wal-Mart reported its second-quarter earnings to US$2.8 billion, or nearly 6%, which beat analysts’ expectations. Sales were up over 10% to US$76.8 billion, though Wal-Mart fell short of revenue expectations because of rising fuel. Wal-Mart declined $1.53 to US$47.57.

Home Depot reported second-quarter earnings rose more than 14% to US$1.77 billion and revenue was up 11.7% to US$22.31 billion. Home Depot shares 94¢ to US$40.67.


The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.5% in July, driven mostly by a 3.8% jump in energy costs.

U.S. Construction starts of new homes and apartments fell 0.1 per cent last month.

The U.S. Federal Reserve reported industrial production rose 0.1% in July. Economists had looked for a 0.5% lift.