Toronto stocks closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by the day’s earnings news. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 34.07 points to 7,086.01.

The market sagged almost right from the opening on disappointment about Lucent and on lackluster earnings from Ford.

In Toronto, the Lucent news weigh on the information technology sector, which fell 2.87%. Gold stocks sagged 1.89%.

Among tech stocks, Nortel fell 15¢ to $4.23. Celestica dropped $1.09 to $23.50.

Zarlink Semiconductor, which posted a smaller first-quarter loss on Wednesday, warned its second quarter would be tougher due to restructuring costs and the normally weak summer season. Its stock was down 65¢ at $6.00.

In the gold sector, Goldcorp fell 61¢, to $15.14, while Barrick Gold was down 35¢ to $23.42.

The junior TSX Venture composite index was off 10.75 points at 1,106.44.

In New York, investors worried about the health of the U.S. economy collected profits for a second straight day,

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 34.38 at 9,094.59.

The Nasdaq composite index declined 5.24 points to 1,747.97. The S&P 500 index fell 6.33 points to 994.09.

Disappointing news on earnings from Ford and Lucent overshadowed robust profits from chip maker Intel.

Lucent warned late Tuesday of a bigger-than-expected third quarter loss, and pushed back the date it expects to return to profit. On Wednesday, Ford said profits fell 27% in the second quarter.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased by a modest 0.2% in June. This followed a 0.3% decrease in April and flat prices in May.

The Canadian dollar closed at US72.12¢, up 0.29 cents after toppling 0.91 cents following the Bank of Canada’s unexpected quarter-point interest rate cut on Tuesday.