Toronto stocks gave up early gains as traders struggled to find reasons to buy on Wednesday. The TSE 300 slipped 47.2 to 6,654.80.

Overall, eight of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices closed lower. The industrial sub-index took a beating, falling more than 3.5%, thanks to the layoffs announced by airplane manufacturer Bombardier.

Oil and gas stocks continued to drift lower as demand for energy in North America shrinks. Metals, forest products, pipelines, merchandising, financial services and conglomerates all closed lower.

A rally in gold stocks stemmed the losses in Toronto. The gold sub-index advanced 4%.

Volume was solid at 134 million shares. Market internals were divided as advances squeaked by declines 581 to 515, with 206 issues closing unchanged.

Bombardier was the most heavily traded stock, with a volume of 20 million shares. The stock plunged 20%, or $2.85, to $11.60 after announcing 3,800 job cuts and cutting in half its earnings growth projections for the year.

Air Canada, which announced 5,000 layoffs, received a more positive response from investors. The stock climbed 17¢ to $3.37.

Anderson Exploration, the day’s number two trader, bucked the downtrend among oil stocks. It gained 54¢ to $39.20. Nortel Networks fell 9¢ to $8.37.

AGF management rose $1.35 to $22 after releasing its third quarter results. The fund company reported profits fell slightly to $25.9 million (28 cents a share) on higher revenues. The drop in profit was due to amortization and goodwill charges resulting from the firm’s acquisition of Global Strategy and Magna Vista.

Canadian Pacific shares fell $1.75 to $47.85. CP shareholders approved the splitting up of the company into five separately traded divisions.

Among gold stocks, Barrick Gold gained $1.50 to $27.27. Placer Dome advanced 70¢ to $20.60.

Trading was active on the Canadian Venture Exchange. Volume was 27 million shares, with 155 advances, 207 declines and 510 issues unchanged. The CDNX Index closed up 1.06 at 2770.09

In New York, the Dow and Nasdaq floundered Wednesday, snapping a two-day winning streak as investors digested another round of earnings warnings. Stocks opened higher, but declined through the first half of the session and stayed there for the afternoon.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1%, or 92.58 points, to 8,67.39. The Nasdaq composite index slid 37.61 points, or 2.5%, to 1,464.03. The S&P 500 shed 5.23 points to 1,007.04.