Energy and mining shares combined to keep Toronto markets in negative territory, while a profit warning from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. dampened U.S. investors’ spirits.

At midday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was off 69.81 points or 0.74% at 9376.61, after sliding 47 points Wednesday. The TSX Venture Exchange was down 15.15 points or 0.91% to 1653.12.

New York’s Dow industrial average was down slightly, off 1.84 points or 0.02% at 10298.41, after a gain of 19 the session before. The Nasdaq composite was up 5.51 points or 0.28% at 1977.06, while the S&P 500 index slid 1.14 points or 0.10% at 1169.97.

The Canadian dollar continued to suffer from political uncertainty, losing a further 0.14 of a cent to US80.00¢, on top of Wednesday’s decline of almost seven-10ths of a U.S. cent.

Meanwhile, the near-month contact for light sweet crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped 83¢ to US$49.62 a barrel. The slide followed Wednesday’s $1.62 US retreat as bearish reports from the U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency weighed in heavily on energy markets.

On Bay Street, the fall in crude prices pushed the TSX energy group lower, falling 1.90%. But gold and mining shares also contributed to the overall decline on the market — gold shares were off 1.80%, metals and mining shares down 2.50% and materials off 1.69%.

In New York, Wal-Mart Stores warnings of lagging second-quarter profits reverberated across Wall Street, sending stocks mostly lower despite a sharp drop in oil prices and otherwise strong retail sales.

Investors’ fears of an economic slowdown were heightened after Wal-Mart missed Wall Street’s profit expectations for the quarter and, more importantly, said high gasoline prices have hurt customer spending and could hurt the company’s second-quarter results.

That put a damper on a very positive Commerce Department report, which showed a 1.4% increase in retail sales, the best gain in six months. Analysts had been expecting a 0.8% rise.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.38 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.57 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.54 percent, and France’s CAC-40 gained 0.96 percent.