Oct. 27, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks moved slightly lower in early trading on Tuesday amid continued weakness in the metal-related sectors. In the first half-hour of trading, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 20.05 points to 11,214.83. Mining stocks continued to tumble, as Inmet has lost 5.1%, HudBay has dropped 4.1% and Teck Resources is down 1.7%. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited has lost 0.75% after the company announced third-quarter net income of $195.4 million or $1.16, up from $170.7 million or $1.10 a year earlier. Rival Canadian National Railway is down 0.4%. The number of Canadian receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits in August fell 2.4% from July, the second consecutive monthly decline, official data showed Tuesday. The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.20 cents to 93.78 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 were down at the outset. Metals and mining stocks were off 1.5%, materials slid 1.2%, gold was down 0.8%. The telecom sector was one of two gainers, up 1.6%, while utilities crept ahead 0.02%. Energy and information technology stocks were flat. The TSX Venture Exchange advanced 2.95 points to 1,308.90, while the Nasdaq Canada index lost 0.77 points to 691.48. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks seesawed Tuesday, after two straight losing sessions, as investors mulled a better-than-expected report on home prices and the latest batch of corporate results. The Dow Jones Industrials moved up 54.11 points to 9,922.07. The S&P 500 index gained 4.18 points to 1,071.13. The Nasdaq composite index garnered 3.51 points to 2,145.36. Stocks tumbled Monday, with the Dow surpassing and then abandoning the 10,000 level for the second day in the row. A spiking dollar dragged on commodity shares and other stocks that benefit from the weak dollar."The whole of the market is not being moved by earnings announcements any more," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners. He said the markets are now focused on economic reports. Cardillo said stocks would be influenced Tuesday by home prices and consumer confidence reports. However, he said that, even more importantly, investors are focused on the initial reading on third-quarter gross domestic product, which comes out on Thursday. On the economic front, the Case-Shiller Home Price Index of 20 cities showed the fourth straight month-over-month increase on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Home prices in the S&P index rose 1.2% in August, following a 1.6% price gain in July. Shortly after U.S. markets open, research firm Conference Board releases its reading on consumer confidence. The index is expected to increase to 53.5, according to Briefing.com consensus, from 53.1 the prior month. In earnings news, BP posted a fall in net profit, although the oil company still managed to top Wall Street's estimates. Honda posted quarterly results that topped expectations. The Japanese automaker also nearly tripled its profit forecast. Treasury prices advanced, lowering the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.52% from Monday's 3.56%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil fell 53 cents to $78.10 U.S. Gold prices were steady at $1,042 U.S. an ounce.