Toronto stocks are lower in late morning trading as investors lock in profits from Tuesday’s 143-point rally. The S&P/TSX composite index is off 10 points to 8,343, with 98 million shares changing hands.

The heavily weighted financials sector is ahead just 0.08% despite stronger quarterly earnings released by two of Canada’s major banks.

CIBC is down 35¢ Canadian cents to $67, after posting a 66% increase in its second-quarter profit.

Bank of Montreal also posted a sharply higher second-quarter profit, which has helped lift its shares by 36¢ to $52.48.

The juniors S&P/TSX Venture composite index is down one point to 1,600.

On Wall Street, U.S. stocks are little changed after a report showed U.S. oil inventories were unchanged last week, while gas supplies fell.

Oil continues to be a focus in the stock market as a fall in crude prices in the previous session sparked a rally. The price of oil tested the US$41 a barrel level before slipping US34¢ to US$40.80 a barrel after an Energy Information Administration report showed no gains in oil and gas supplies for the week ended May 21.

The Dow Jones industrial average is off 20 points at 10,097. The broader S&P 500 has slipped one point to 1,111. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is ahead one point to 1,113.

Markets were caught off guard by a 11.8% drop in new U.S. home sales in April, from the month before, to the lowest level since November.

Also suppressing buying sentiment was a U.S. Commerce Department report that orders to factories for big-ticket durable goods dropped 2.9 per cent last month, marking the biggest decline since September 2002.