Shares on Canada’s biggest stock index felt around for the bruises by the closing bell on Wednesday, and it seems industrials were among the main culprits.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved lower 50.37 points to close Wednesday at 15,854.77
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.80 cents to 78.12 cents U.S.
Canadian National, Canada’s largest rail operator, gave up all of the previous session’s pre-earnings gains and fell $1.27, or 1.2%, to $104.19, after several analysts also cut their price targets on the company.
Bombardier ducked lower 13 cents, or 4.5%, to $2.75. Another industrial stock, Air Canada, was down 37 cents, or 1.4%, to $25.97 after opening higher following quarterly results that were better than expected.
The heavily-weighted financial services sector slipped, with Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd sliding $14.80, or 2.3%, to $640.45. Shares in
Canada’s biggest bank, Royal Bank of Canada, capsized $1.86, or 1.8%, to $100.24.
Among materials, Whitecap Resources doffed 17 cents, or 1.9%, to $8.58, while Hudbay Minerals docked 30 cents, or 2.9%, to $9.78.
Roots Corp. tumbled $1.99, or 16.6%, to $10.01 in its trading debut in Toronto after raising $200 million in an initial public offering.
Stocks tempering some of the losses included Telus Corp, which rose $1.38, or 3%, to $47.10, while BCE Inc. gained 18 cents to $59.28.
Health-care issues also moved north, most notably, Canopy Growth, up six cents to $12.99, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals inched up three cents to $15.42.
Consumer discretionary stocks moved slightly upward, as Canadian Tire picked up 39 cents to $159.33.
The Bank of Canada today did as expected, and maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1.25% and the deposit rate is 0.75%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 0.97 points to 783.51
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground on the day, as industrials fell 0.9%, with financials and materials each sinking 0.4%
Telecoms led the three gaining groups, up 1.2%, while health-care stocks prospered 0.4%, and consumer discretionary stocks took comfort in a gain of 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks had their worst day in two months on Wednesday as a batch of corporate earnings reports disappointed investors. Concerns of rising bond yields also dampened sentiment in stocks.
The Dow Jones industrial average came off its lows of the day, but still stumbled 112.3 points from Tuesday’s all-time high to 23,329.46, marking its biggest one-day fall since Sept. 5. Boeing contributed the most to the losses.
The stock closed 2.8% lower after two of its businesses saw declines in revenue compared to last year, largely due to $329 million in costs due to production problems of the KC-46 aerial refueling tanker.
The S&P 500 fell 11.98 points to 2,557.15, with industrials and telecommunications leading decliners. The S&P had its worst day since Sept. 5. Chipotle Mexican Grill was the biggest decliner on the index, dropping 14.6% after its quarterly results missed the mark.
Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices saw its shares drop 13.5% despite beating the Street on earnings and revenue. The company said it expects a drop in revenue for the current quarter.
The NASDAQ slid 34.54 points to 6,563.89
In economic news, durable goods orders rose 2.2% in September, more than the expected increase of 1%.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped, raising yields to 2.44% from Tuesday’s 2.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 26 cents a barrel to $52.21 U.S.
Gold prices gained 60 cents an ounce to $1,278.90 U.S.
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