Toronto stocks are lower Thursday as investors steer away from TD Bank’s acquisition a U.S. bank. At midday, the Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index is off 24.41 points to 8,346.96.

The heavily weighted TSX financial group is down 0.34% with shares of TD Bank slipping 85¢ to $43.70. Earlier today TD announced it is buying a 51% stake in mid-sized U.S. bank Banknorth for US$3.8 billion in cash and shares.

TD also announced that its net income for the latest quarter was up to $584 million from $501 million in same period last year.

Shares of National Bank are down 54¢ to $44.45, despite the bank reporting its quarterly profit rose slightly to $167 million in its third quarter.

Energy stocks are down 0.6%as the price of crude for October delivery slipped US62¢ to US$42.85 per barrel in trading in New York.

OPEC president Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Thursday the cartel wants oil prices to fall faster and will discuss whether to increase production at a meeting next month.

On the TSX, Encana is down 71¢ at $52.68, while Canadian Natural Resources is off 28¢ at $40.92.

In other earnings news, shares of banking technology maker Datawest Solutions are up 30¢, or 35%, to $1.16 after announced a deal to be acquired by Open Solutions Inc.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index is down 2.92 points at 1,518.39.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average is 11.41 points lower at 10,170.23. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is down 6.34 points at 1,854.38 and the S&P 500 has slipped 0.28 of a point to 1,104.68.