Equities in Canada’s opened lower on Tuesday, weighed by health-care stocks, ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's nomination hearing as bets grew for a quicker pace of interest rate hikes down south.
The S&P/TSX Composite began Tuesday off 54.08 points at 21,018.24.
The Canadian dollar restocked 0.27 cents to 78.98 cents U.S.
Canadian Natural Resources on Tuesday joined its rivals in forecasting higher capital expenditure and production in 2022, as it bets on a sustained recovery of oil and gas prices from the pandemic-driven historic lows.
Natural Resources shares gained 36 cents to $60.01.
B2Gold's CEO said the company’s Fekola mine in Mali continues to operate normally and remains unaffected by sanctions imposed on the country by the Economic Community of West African States.
B2Gold shares docked 12 cents, or 2.6%, to $4.46.
CIBC cut the target price on Boralex to $42.00 from $48.00. Boralex shares captured 13 cents to $31.42.
CIBC raised the target price on Fortis Inc. to $61.00 from $58.00. Fortis shares ditched 27 cents to $58.91.
CIBC raised the target price on Keyera to $34.00 from $33.00. Keyera shares fell six cents to $28.84.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange removed 1.05 points to 897.40.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative in the first hour, with consumer staples fading 1%, industrials down 0.6%, and communications sliding 0.4%.
The three gainers proved to be energy, up 1.6%, while financial and consumer discretionary stocks each nicked up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were under pressure early Tuesday after a late rally in the previous session helped the tech-heavy NASDAQ snap a four-day losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrials declined 169.72 points to 35,899.15.
The S&P 500 sank 11.77 points to 4,658.52.
The NASDAQ jumped 27.35 points to 14,970.17.
Large tech stocks were mixed in early trading Tuesday, with chipmaker Nvidia and Alphabet falling while Amazon and Tesla rose nearly 1%.
Struggles for health care stocks, including Merck and Procter & Gamble, weighed on the Dow. Shares of IBM fell more than 4% after the stock was downgraded by UBS.
Early gainers included Illumina, which rose 6% after the genomic sequencing company issued a 2022 revenue outlook that was ahead of consensus. Juniper Networks rose 2.5% after Bank of America upgraded the stock.
Earnings season will be in full swing by the end of this week with the big banks set to report starting Friday. Grocery chain Albertson’s reported results that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines on Tuesday morning.
On the Federal Reserve front, Chair Jerome Powell will testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday as part of his re-confirmation process. Investors will be looking for insight into the Fed’s current views on inflation and the speed of policy tightening.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys fell back slightly, raising yields to 1.77% from Monday’s 1.76%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up $1.20 to $79.43 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $7.40 to $1,806.20 U.S. an ounce.
