A spike in oil prices boosted shares on Bay Street, but dampened investor enthusiasm on Wall Street on Wednesday morning.

At midday, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was up 36.3 points or 0.44% at 8330.67 on volume of 93 million shares. The TSX Venture Exchange was off 1.7 points or 0.11% at 1465.93.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 61.35 points or 0.61% at 10023.79. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 9.55 points or 0.87% at 1085.28. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was down 29.25 points or 1.56% at 1839.85.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.01 of a cent to US75.06¢.

In Toronto, energy stocks lead the way, gaining 1.43%, after crude-oil futures topped US$43 a barrel for the first time on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the threat of a production halt at Russian oil giant Yukos and U.S. data implying strong demand fueling the climb.

September crude climbed as high as US$43.05 a barrel in New York, the highest level the exchange has seen in the 21-year history of crude futures trading. The previous intra-day record was US$42.45, seen on June 2 of this year. The contract was last at US$42.85, up $1.01.

Oil stocks movement of note on the TSX included Petro-Canada, up 90¢ to $62. It’s due to report second-quarter results Thursday. Also, Encana Corp. was ahead 45¢ to $58.79. The oil explorer is expected to sell US$1 billion of debt in two parts as early as Wednesday, joint lead manager ABN Amro Securities said.

Elsewhere in Toronto, financial stocks also provided some lift. The sub-sector was up 0.19%, with help from the TSX group Inc., which announced Tuesday a 54% jump in second-quarter profits; its shares gained 63¢ or 1.35% to $47.62 Wednesday morning. CIBC stock was also ahead, up 45¢ to $58.79.

Information technology shares lost early momentum and were down 0.33% as a whole at midday. That was despite a 3.74% jump in Nortel Networks Corp. Nortel gained 17¢ to $4.72 on volume of more than 10.2 million shares. On Tuesday, Nortel stock lost 16% on news that it had missed its cost-cutting and profit margin targets.

On Wall Street, the jump in oil prices kept investors on edge, while disappointing quarterly reports from college and university operator Career Education Corp. and razor and battery maker Energizer Holdings Inc., added to the gloom.

A vital ingredient in the production of most goods and services as well as transport, higher crude prices immediately hurt profits at most companies. The rising price of oil has also weighed on the economy in recent months.

The worries about oil and earnings has cut into healthy gains made in the previous session when stocks snapped back from two straight down sessions.

“Oil is definitely an issue,” Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. told Reuters “The question for today is, ‘are we going to see any follow through from yesterday’s impressive rally off the lows?’. Was it just a one-day wonder?”

A worse-than-expected economic report didn’t help matter Wednesday. A U.S. government report showed orders for big-ticket items rose by much less than expected in June but the previous month’s decline was halved.

The Commerce Department said orders to factories for big-ticket products meant to last three years or more, rose 0.7 of a percent last month, about half what economists were looking for.

Meanwhile, investors will get another look at the economy before the end of the trading day. The Federal reserve is set to release its Beige Book regional survey.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues surged 172.83 points to close at 11,204.37.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 18.95 points, or 0.2% to finish at 12,320.27.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 32.8 points at 4,357.7. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was up 0.2% and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.42%.