Stocks in Toronto on Wednesday were somewhat directionless midday, having slipped from near seven-week highs hit in the last session.
Energy stocks fell ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, while downbeat results from Canada Goose also pulled the index lower.
The TSX Composite changed direction and eked up 4.93 points, to pause for noon hour EDT at 19,522.64.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.12 cents to 73.30 cents U.S.
Canada Goose fell $1.32, or 5.9%, to $21.03 after the luxury parka maker cut its full-year revenue and profit forecast, with persistent COVID-related lockdowns and store closures in China hurting its business.
Ero Copper led declines on the TSX, falling $1.11, or 6.7%, after the copper miner's third-quarter profit missed analysts' estimates, while Cenovus Energy recovered 26 cents to $28.19 after reporting a nearly three-fold jump in third-quarter profit.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Canada has not ruled out another oversized rate hike to fight sky-high inflation, Governor Tiff Macklem said on Tuesday.
The BoC surprised the market with a smaller-than-expected 50-bps hike last week.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 2.61 points to 595.63.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative, with health-care leaning lower 2.9%, health-care down 1.8%, and materials slipping 1.1%.
The five gainers were led by utilities, up 0.5%, while industrial and financial stocks each climbed 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Wednesday as investors braced for the Federal Reserve’s latest rate decision at the conclusion of its policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials came out of their morning funk, but remained lower 25.4 points to break for lunch at 32,627.80.
The S&P 500 sagged 17.31 points to 3,838.79.
The NASDAQ dropped 103.75 points to 10,787.09, dragged down by popular technology stocks.
The Fed is widely expected to announce a 0.75-percentage-point rate increase, its fourth hike in a row of that caliber, as it battles high inflation. Investors are also looking for a signal that the central bank is prepared to slow the pace of its rate-hiking plan come December.
Comments from the Fed and Chair Jerome Powell will play a key role in deciphering where stocks go in the months ahead and whether markets kick off a fresh bull run.
Earnings season continued with strong results from CVS Health. Advanced Micro Devices rose despite a top and bottom line miss.
Shares of Boeing jumped as much as 5.5% as Wall Street cheered comments made at the company’s investor day about full-year positive cash flow.
Treasury prices drooped, raising yields back to Tuesday’s 4.05%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices heightened $1.74 to $90.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fell 30 cents to $1,649.40 U.S. an ounce.
