12:16 PM EDT, 03/14/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The TSX is down 164 points at midday, amid mixed commodities and some profit taking after the index got to within about 120 points off the all time record his on Wednesday.

Telecoms (-1.4%) and healthcare (-1.1%), are the biggest decliners.

Energy, up 0.6%, is the sole gainer.

Oil prices rose early on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its 2024 oil-demand forecast, cut its supply outlook and said it expects global inventories to tighten for the entire year due to continuing production cuts from OPEC+.

Gold prices weakened after the dollar and bond yields climbed as yet another US inflation measure ran hotter than expected last month.

Natural gas was steady ahead of fresh storage data from the Energy Information Administration expected to show inventories fell well less than average last week.

In terms of data in focus today, Desjardins noted US retail sales rebounded in February, but said the details were "less rosy". It noted headline retail sales rose by 0.6% in February, slightly below the survey of economists which had penciled in an advance of 0.8%. And revisions to the prior month were mixed but "generally pointed towards a less rosy picture" for American retail receipts.

According to Desjardins, the real surprise came from a flat reading on the control group, which excludes gasoline, autos, building materials and food services. This comes on the back of a weak reading the prior month. Desjardins said the slowdown in the control group's spending should put downward pressure on GDP tracking for Q1. "Ultimately," it added, "there appears to be less momentum in consumers spending in the first quarter of the year. That's important considering the US economy has benefitted enormously from consumers drawing down on savings. Still, the report is unlikely to change the decision calculus for the Fed at the moment given the focus has been squarely on the upside surprises to inflation, a trend that continued this morning with core PPI printing above expectations."

Elsewhere, TD Economics noted the pick-up in retail spending is "unlikely to be good news" for policymakers at the Federal Reserve. TD said the recent flip in core goods prices from deflation to price growth makes continued buoyant retail sales even more of a challenge to the Fed's inflation targeting objective. "The current near-term headwinds, from both inflation and spending, are likely to keep the Fed on the sidelines for a bit longer as they continue to monitor inflation's progress to target," it added.