Canada's main stock index erased early gains to trade lower on Wednesday due to weakness in health-care and technology stocks, with hotter-than-expected domestic inflation data weighing on investor sentiment.
The TSX Composite Index stepped back 23.43 points to move into noon hour Wednesday at 21,995.39.
The Canadian dollar soared 0.63 cents to 79.97 cents U.S.
Leading losses on the index were technology stocks with pot producers Tilray Brands falling 54 cents, or 7.3%, to $6.83, Canopy Growth slumping 35 cents, or 4.7%, to $7.15, Cronos Group failing 21 cents, or 5%, to $3.99, and Aurora Cannabis down 18 cents, or 4.3%, to $4.05.
Rogers Communications gained $3.11, or 4.2%, to $76.90, after the company beat analysts' average estimate for quarterly profit,
benefiting from a steady demand for its wireless and internet services, and said it was on track to close its acquisition of smaller rival Shaw in the second quarter.
On the economic slate, StatsCan reported March’s consumer price index rose 6.7% on a year-over-year basis in March, up from a 5.7% gain in February. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.9% in March.
Moreover, the agency says, new home prices for Canada rose 1.2% compared with February. Prices were up in 18 of the 27 census metropolitan areas surveyed and unchanged in nine from February to March.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faded 8.73 points to 884.05.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided between winners and losers, as communications jumped 1.5%, energy picked up 0.9%, and financials increased 0.8%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by health-care, decreasing 3.9%, health-care, down 2%, and materials, off 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
It was a divided market on Wednesday as traders evaluated a rush of first-quarter earnings results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on the back of strong earnings from Procter & Gamble, while the Nasdaq Composite was dragged down by an epic plunge in shares of one-time darling Netflix.
The 30-stock index zoomed 331.65 points, or nearly 1%, to 35,242.85.
The S&P 500 gained 15.83 points to 4,478.04.
The NASDAQ Composite shed early gains and lost 92.29 points to 13,527.37.
The moves came as Netflix fell more than 36% after reporting a loss of 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter. The loss dragged shares of other streaming companies lower. Disney, Roku and Warner Bros. Discovery fell more than 4%. Paramount lost 7%.
The Netflix blow-up scared investors away from buying other technology stocks ahead of earnings. Tesla, which is scheduled to report earnings after the bell, fell about 3%. Amazon and Salesforce lost more than 2%.
Meanwhile, IBM rose more than 6% following a beat on earnings and revenue, which helped lift the Dow. Procter & Gamble, another Dow component, reported better-than-expected results and hiked its full-year revenue guidance. Its shares gained more than 2%.
Roughly 12% of S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter earnings thus far, with 80% of those names beating analyst expectations.
Tesla and United Airlines are slated to report after the bell.
Treasury prices dipped sharply, raising yields to 2.87%, from Tuesday’s 2.94%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regrouped 17 cents to $102.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subsided $3.70 to $1,955.30 U.S. an ounce.
