The suspense over when the U.S. Federal Reserve would pull the trigger on an interest rate held investors in its way Monday, leading to a negative finish on Bay Street, techs the worst culprit.
The S&P/TSX Composite slumped 38.87 points to close Monday at 16,492.17
The Canadian dollar regained 0.07 cents to 76.01 cents U.S.
Tech stocks got bruised the worst, as Shopify was pummeled $21.99, or 5%, to $421.00, and Quarterhill Inc. faded seven cents, or 4.4%, to $1.53.
The energy sector dropped as shares of Vermilion Energy tumbled $1.89, or 7.7%, to $22.40, after reporting lower production in the second quarter.
Husky Energy dipped 41 cents, or 3.9%, to $10.00.
Among health-care concerns, CannTrust Holdings fell 14 cents, or 4.7%, to $2.87. Elsewhere, Cronos Group fell 80 cents, or 4.1%, to $18.75.
Gold miner Kirkland Lake Gold, which rose $1.68, or 2.9%, to $60.36, was among the biggest gainers on the main index. Detour Gold perked 61 cents, or 3.1%, to $20.01.
Among consumer staples, Metro leaped 83 cents, or 1.6%, to $52.20, while Premium Brands Holdings $1.10, or 1.2%, to $97.01
Utilities also prospered, including Canadian Utilities 50 cents, or 1.4%, to $35.63, while ATCO Ltd. climbed 53 cents, or 1.2%, to $44.00.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 1.77 points to 591.12
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups had moved into plus territory by midday, with consumer staples up 0.6%, while communications and utilities each sprang up 0.4%.
The five laggards were weighed most by information technology, down 2.2%, while health-care suffered 1.9%, and energy slid 1.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded in a tight range on Monday as Wall Street tempered its expectations for this week’s trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing and looked ahead to the latest monetary policy decision from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials picked up 28.9 to 27,221.35, as modest gains in Home Depot, Merck and Intel pulled the blue-chip index higher.
The S&P 500 dropped 4.89 points to 3,020.97, as financials, consumer discretionary and communication services stocks lagged.
The NASDAQ slid 36.88 points to 8,293.33, as Amazon fell 1.5%, Microsoft lost 0.2% and Facebook shed 1.9%.
In corporate news, drugmaker Pfizer plans to divest its off-patent drug business and marry it with generic-drug maker Mylan. The combined company, which will market Mylan’s EpiPen and Pfizer’s Viagra, will be domiciled in the U.S.
Pfizer fell 3.7% in afternoon trading Monday while Mylan rose 13%.
Beyond Meat, the hot meat alternative IPO with a market cap bigger than a quarter of companies in the S&P 500, reports earnings after the bell. In all 75% of companies have beaten estimates so far and 60% beat revenue expectations.
The stock was down 4.8% half an hour before the closing bell.
The Fed will announce its latest decision on whether to adjust interest rates at 2 p.m. ET Wednesday; Chairman Jerome Powell will also address the state of the economy in a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET later Wednesday.
Despite a healthy economy and an unemployment rate under 4%, investors widely expect the central bank to cut its benchmark lending rate for the first time since 2008 by 25 basis points. The Fed, which seeks to keep inflation around 2%, has had trouble sustaining price growth in recent months despite a healthy economy and low unemployment.
That may hint that the current level of interest rates may be too high even though the benchmark is well below historical norms. Some economists and Fed officials think that rates need to be lowered in the face of decelerating Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. and a gloomier growth outlook overseas as Washington-led trade wars continue.
U.S. and Chinese officials will convene in Shanghai this week in a latest attempt by the globe’s two largest economies to craft a trade deal and end their year-long trade dispute.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained slightly, weighing yields to 2.06% from Friday’s 2.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained 83 cents to $57.03 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices acquired $6.80 to $1,426.10 U.S. an ounce.
