TORONTO - A combination of earnings disappointments, poor U.S. economic data and a rising greenback pushed the Toronto stock market lower Thursday.

The market had little time to react to the U.S. Senate confirmation of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second, four-year term. The results came in about one minute before the 4 p.m. EST close.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 69.91 points to 11,274.2.

The TSX Venture Exchange was 7.58 points lower to 1,501.8, while the Canadian dollar closed down 0.13 of a cent to 93.79 cents US.

The U.S. dollar gained strength as investors sought safety after Standard & Poor's said it no longer considered Britain among the "most stable and low-risk" banking systems.

The materials sector was down just over one per cent as market heavyweight Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (TSX:POT) reported its fourth-quarter profit was down 69 per cent from a year ago to $243.6 million and sales revenue also fell. The company's shares slipped $5.30 or 4.55 per cent to $111.26.

Elsewhere in the fertilizer business, BHP Billiton Canada Inc. has agreed to pay about $341 million in cash to acquire Athabasca Potash Inc. (TSX:API) in a friendly agreement. The offer is the equivalent of $8.35 per Athabasca share. Athabasca shares jumped $1.60 or 23.88 per cent to $8.30.

The industrials sector was down 1.3 per cent as Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd (TSX:CP) reported that its profit in the fourth quarter was up three per cent to $194 million from a year ago. Total revenue was down 16 per cent to $1.1 billion and its shares dropped $1.65 to $52.76.

The energy sector declined 0.77 per cent as the February crude contract on the Nymex slipped three cents to US$73.60 a barrel. EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) lost 34 cents to C$33.10 and Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) declined 36 cents to $34.35.

The gold sector stepped back 0.28 per cent with the February bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange dipping 90 cents to US$1,083.60 an ounce.

The base metals sector was off 0.33 per cent as the rising U.S. dollar pushed March copper down 12 cents to a 2 1/2 month low of US$3.10 a pound. FNX Mining (TSX:FNX) lost 16 cents to C$12.34 while Labrador Iron Mines Holdings (TSX:LIM) was up $1.57 or 36.43 per cent to $5.80.

The financial sector slipped 0.37 per cent with Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) $1.15 lower at $52.85.

U.S. data also depressed investors as the number of newly laid-off U.S. workers claiming unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, dropping by 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 470,000.

And orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods edged up a slight 0.3 per cent in December, a much weaker showing than the two per cent advance economists had been expecting.

Stocks around the world have been in retreat since the beginning of last week in the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement that he plans to impose restrictions on banks' more risky trading activities. China's moves to rein in bank lending to prevent a nasty inflationary spike added to concerns about the strength of the recovery.

Analysts say there is also a great deal of uncertainty about how the economic recovery will perform later in the year as stimulus spending decreases. And with the TSX gaining 31 per cent last year, investors may be thinking it's a good time to take a pause.

"Some people are saying, we made a lot of money last year, why don't we just lock this in?" said Gareth Watson, director, Canadian equities portfolio advisory group at ScotiaMcLeod.

U.S. fourth-quarter gross domestic product figures come out Friday and investors were expecting it to come in at an annualized rate of at least 4.5 per cent -- maybe as high as six per cent.

But Watson notes that "you're not going to see six per cent throughout 2010."

"It could stay there for the next quarter but eventually it's going to start to come down and people are saying when we do break out this stimulus, what's going to happen to the markets. You start to say...why should I buy?"

New York markets also racked up steep declines with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 115.7 points to 10,120.46.

The Nasdaq composite index declined 42.41 points to 2,179 while the S&P 500 index backed away 12.97 points to 1,084.53.

In other earnings news, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) reported a US$2.7-billion profit last year, its first annual profit in four years, and also said it expected a full-year profit in 2010. That compared to a record US$14.6-billion loss in 2008. In the fourth quarter, Ford earned US$868 million compared with a loss of US$5.9 billion a year earlier but its shares lost early momentum and were off seven cents at US$11.48.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it's closing in on solutions to a gas pedal system problem, but it still had no details on when drivers would see repairs as a recall spread to more than 2.4 million vehicles on three continents. Elkhart, Ind.-based CTS Corp., which made the parts, is cranking out redesigned gas pedal assemblies that fix the problem. Shares in Toyota fell $2.26 to US$77.51 while CTS shares dropped 74 cents to US$7.68.

A major disappointment was Motorola Inc. Its shares tumbled 90 cents or 12.16 per cent to US$6.50 as overall cellphone sales in the last quarter were lower than expected. Total revenue came to US$5.7 billion, missing the average forecast from analysts of US$5.9 billion and it also delivered a disappointing profit forecast.