Gold stocks helped pull the Toronto stock market into the black Tuesday morning, while New York markets were down on a weak outlook from a tech-sector bellwether.

At midday, the S&P/TSX composite was up 5.73 points or 0.06% to 9891.82 after slipping 41.11 points Monday and the TSX Venture Exchange was down 19.27 points or 0.94% at 2021.02. Wall Street’s Dow industrial average slipped 8.35 points or 0.08% to 10928.51 after moving 3.69 points lower in the previous session. The Nasdaq was down 9.85 points or 0.47% at 2080.36 after climbing 19.6 points Monday, thanks in part to an improved profit forecast from wireless communications technology maker Qualcomm Inc., while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index had lost 3.43 points or 0.28% to 1221.88.

The Canadian dollar jumped 0.87 of a cent to US82.22¢ as the U.S. dollar weakened against several currencies ahead of the latest reading of the American trade deficit, due Friday. The report could focus attention back on the U.S. economy’s longer-term structural problems that have played a big part in driving the dollar lower.

In Toronto, the TSX gold sub-index was doing its best to keep the markets above water. It was up 2.82% as the gold gained against the weakness in the U.S. dollar. Gold for April delivery added $2.80 to trade at US$438.60 per ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The TSX energy group was off 0.01% as the price of oil dipped slightly. A barrel of light crude was quoted at US$53.75, down 14¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In New York, a disappointing earnings update from Texas Instruments Inc. pushed stocks lower. After gaining ground in Monday’s session, semiconductor stocks moved lower after Texas Instruments cut its earnings forecasts, leading investors to worry about increasing inventories and lagging sales in much of the tech sector.

Texas Instruments was down 82¢ or 3% in late morning trading to US$26.55.

With little other major news and no economic data to report, stocks were expected to slip lower as profit-taking from last week’s major gains takes hold.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 0.32%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.12%, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.34%, and France’s CAC-40 dropped 0.32%.