Canada's commodity-heavy main stock index edged lower on Monday as losses in the energy sector countered a rise in financial stocks in the run-up to a central bank meeting this week.
The TSX Composite Index ditched 109.82 points to break for lunch Monday at 21,764.53.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.25 cents to 79.25 cents U.S.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were OceanaGold which jumped six cents, or 1.8%, to $3.13, and auto tech provider Magna
International, which rose 77 cents to $77.67.
Ero Copper fell $1.34, or 6.6%, the most on the TSX, to $18.89, tracking lower copper prices. The second-biggest decliner was
MTY Food Group down $3.02, or 5.1%, to $55.93.
The most heavily traded shares by volume were Athabasca Oil , down 12 cents, or 5.6%, to $2.02, Suncor Energy, down 85 cents, or 2.1%, to $40.42, and Cenovus Energy, down $1.15, or 5.2%, to $20.97.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subtracted 7.67 points to 88.54.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were down midday, with energy tailing off 2.2%, utilities faltering 1.1%, and health-care sliding 0.9%.
The three gainers were consumer staples, up 0.3%, communications, poking ahead 0.1%, and consumer discretionary stocks better by only 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Monday as interest rates continued to climb on concerns over tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve that could slow economic growth.
The Dow Jones Industrials withered 187.19 points by noon to 34,533.93.
The S&P 500 lost 53.88 points to 4,434.42
The NASDAQ Composite subtracted 248.45 points, or 1.8%, to 13,462.55.
Concerns over higher interest rates have spurred investors to drop more risky assets, such as tech stocks that led losses on Monday.
Microsoft declined 3.8%. Semiconductor stocks such as Nvidia doffed 5.3%, and Advanced Micro Devices fell 4.3%.
Oil prices dropped on Monday amid fears that COVID lockdowns in China would depress global demand. International benchmark Brent crude declined 3.2% to trade at $99.45 per barrel. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 3%, to trade at $95.33 per barrel.
Energy stocks declined as a group. Occidental Petroleum is down 4.7%, Diamondback Energy is down 4.3% and ConocoPhillips fell 4%.
To be sure, airline stocks bucked the broader market’s negative trend, as Delta Air Lines spiked 4%. Alaska Air Group was up 2.7%, American Airlines Group jumped 2.8%, Southwest Airlines ticked upward 2.6% and United Airlines Holdings jumped 2.6%.
Meanwhile, AT&T popped 5.7% after spinning off its old WarnerMedia to merge with Discovery. JPMorgan analysts liked the decision, giving AT&T an overweight rating and saying the stock is now trading at a discount.
Twitter’s stock was on the move after CEO Parag Agrawal revealed that Elon Musk abandoned his plan to join the company’s board.
Treasury prices fell as yields increased to 2.76%, from Friday’s 2.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices doffed $4.48 to $93.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $16.10 to $1,961 U.S. an ounce.
