Canada's main stock index fell hard on Thursday, as weakness in tech and commodities shares overshadowed earnings-driven gains in financials and utilities stocks.
The TSX cratered 609.53 points to approach noon EST Thursday at 32.644.66.
The Canadian dollar tumbled 0.22 at 73.44 cents U.S.
Manulife Financial reported a lower fourth-quarter profit, while its peer Sun Life reported a jump in profit for the same quarter.
Manulife shares subsided $2.86, or 5.6%, to $48.54, while Sun Life gained $4.16, or 4.7%, to $92.23.
Restaurant Brands slipped $5.57, or 5.8%, to $90.72 after quarterly results, sending consumer discretionary shares 1.4% lower.
Asset management firm Brookfield dipped $1.25, or 1.8%, to $69.80, after quarterly results.
Consumer staples led sectoral gains with a 1.1% rise. Dairy processor Saputo rose $1.01, or 2.4% to $0.36, after the company announced agreement to sell 80% stake in its Argentina dairy division, valuing business at $855 million.
Energy delivery firm Fortis gained $2.78, or 3.8%, to $76.77 after fourth-quarter profit beat estimates.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday narrowly backed a measure disapproving of Trump's tariffs on Canada, although it is unlikely to garner enough support in Congress to overcome an expected Trump veto.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 40.51 points, or 3.9%, to 995.21.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground by noon, with information technology jettisoning 5.6%, materials off 4.1%, and gold lower 4%.
The three gainers were consumer staples, up 1.7%, utilities ahead 1.3%, and telecoms eking ahead 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell on Thursday, putting the benchmark on pace for its third day of losses, as investors continued to shift away from technology names toward those more poised to benefit from a growing U.S. economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average spiked 230.83 points to 50,352.23.
The much-broader index eked up 6.53 points to 6,948.
The NASDAQ let go of 67.18 points to 22,999.29.
Investors moved into more cyclical areas of the market during the session. Shares of Walmart and Boeing, for example, posted a rise of 3% and 2%, respectively. However, tech was under pressure, as “Magnificent Seven” stocks such as Apple and Amazon were each lower by around 3%.
Within tech, software stocks recorded losses yet again. The group has been hit hard in recent weeks as fears around artificial intelligence disrupting the software space have rattled Wall Street.
Key AI play Palantir Technologies declined more than 6%, while Oracle slid more than 2%. Salesforce was down more than 1%.
Additionally, Cisco Systems slid 11% after the maker of networking hardware such as switches and routers issued disappointing guidance for the current quarter.
Those moves come after a downbeat trading day on Wall Street. Stocks ended the session lower after earlier rallying off the back of a strong jobs report, which showed sharp jobs growth of 130,000 last month, far above what economists were expecting, and much higher than the downwardly revised December gain. The unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3% from 4.4%.
The report was a relief for investors who worried it would show a drop-off in the labor market, following a raft of recent data that’s indicated slowing growth in a “no hire, no fire” environment.
Yet the strong payrolls numbers also muddy the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook and could mean fewer rate cuts than traders were
hoping for if higher inflation also remains an issue.
That underscores the importance of Friday’s consumer price index, which could show the central bank just what is needed for its dual mandate to come into better balance.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 4.13% from Wednesday’s 4.17%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $1.99 to $62.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tumbled $120.30 to $4,978.20 U.S. an ounce.
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