Canada's main stock index remained subdued on Tuesday as headwinds from receding early rate cut expectations globally outweighed the boost from lower-than-expected domestic inflation data.
The TSX Composite edged up 1.22 points to move into Tuesday afternoon at 21,256.83.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.09 cents to 73.98 cents U.S.
Markets were closed Monday for Family Day.
Rate-sensitive technology stocks declined, led by declines in crypto miner Hut 8 that lost $1.19, or 8.7%, to $12.42, the highest amongst the IT stocks.
Losses were capped by a rise in consumer staples shares, with Loblaw gaining $1.71, or 1.2%, to $139.47 after it expected to invest more than $2 billion this year to create more than 7,500 jobs.
In corporate news, gold miner SSRM Mining sank to the bottom of the index with a decline of 54 cents, or 8.2%, to $6.06, after the company said on Sunday that its environmental permit for Copler gold mine was revoked.
Aurora Cannabis slid 41 cents, or 7.9%, to $4.79, after it appointed Simona King, a former executive of Bristol Myers-Squibb, as its Chief Financial Officer.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada says January’s consumer price index hiked 2.9% on a year-over-year basis in January, down from a 3.4% gain in December. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI fell 0.1% in January.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 2.76 points Tuesday to 554.
Seven of the 12 subgroups lost strength, with information technology sliding 1.2%, health-care stocks, trailing 0.8%, and consumer discretionary, off 0.6%.
The five gainers were led by consumer staples, which hiked 1.4%, communications, up 0.6%, and utilities, better by 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Tuesday as Nvidia led a broader tech decline ahead of the chipmaker’s earnings report.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 127.5 points to 38,500.49.
The S&P 500 capsized 45.05 points to 4,960.52.
The NASDAQ index dived 520.4 points, or 1.6%, to 15,520.40.
Shares of Nvidia, which is set to report earnings Wednesday after the bell, fell nearly 6%. Although Nvidia is expected to post impressive results, investors have expressed concerns about its sky-high valuation. Shares of Amazon, Microsoft and Meta each lost more than 1%.
Financial stocks were also in view Tuesday following a blockbuster announcement that Capital One Financial agreed to purchase Discover Financial Services in an all-stock deal worth $35.3 billion, which is expected to close in late 2024 or early 2025. Capital One slumped about 1% following the announcement, while Discover jumped 12.5%.
In separate deal news, Walmart announced it will acquire TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion, or $11.50 a share, leading shares of Vizio to climb higher by about 15%. Walmart shares added more than 4% after the big-box retailer also beat quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, fueled by double-digit growth in the company’s global e-commerce sales.
The moves follow a losing week on Wall Street after economic data raised concerns that the Federal Reserve may not begin cutting interest rates as soon, or by as much, as market participants expected this year.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury regained lost strength, dropping yields to 4.26% from Friday’s 4.29%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices crawled lower 33 cents to $78.86 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices climbed $13.80 to $2,037.90.
