Canadian shares hit a near-two month low on Thursday, as the losses in the country's top lenders after reporting a mixed bag of earnings overshadowed the gains in tech stocks that tracked a U.S. market rally.
The TSX remained in the red 136.08 points to greet noon hour Thursday at 19,791.61.
The Canadian dollar weakened 0.18 cents to 73.36 cents U.S.
Royal Bank of Canada slid $3.21, or 2.6%, to $120.54, on a quarterly earnings decline, while Toronto-Dominion Bank was down $2.46, or 3%, to $78.72, after the lender said it would not be able to meet its earnings growth target after its failed acquisition attempt of U.S. lender First Horizon.
However, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce rose 94 cents, or 1.7%, touching a one-month high, at $56.58, after beating earnings per share expectations.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada says employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employees" -- was little changed in March (-9,900).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.24 points to 602.83.
All but three of the TSX subgroups were lower midday, with energy capsizing 1.8%, gold folding 1.4%, and utilities bowing 1.2%.
The three gainers were information technology, up 0.5%, while consumer discretionary and industrials were each up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ jumped Thursday as investors cheered the latest quarterly results from Nvidia. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid after Fitch Ratings placed the United States’ AAA rating on a negative rating watch.
The Dow shed 131.81 points, to 32,668.11.
The S&P 500 gained 25.43 points to 4,140.67.
The NASDAQ recovered 195.48 points, or 1.5%, to 12,679.64.
Nvidia shares surged 26% after the company posted stronger-than-expected revenue guidance for its fiscal second quarter, while also reporting beats on the top and bottom line in the previous quarter. An explosion in demand for Nvidia chips used in artificial intelligence calculations underpinned the quarterly beat.
Several analysts covering Nvidia hiked their price targets on the stock following the results. Nvidia’s surge brought the chipmaker to within striking distance of a $1 trillion market capitalization.
Other semiconductor stocks followed Nvidia higher, including AMD and Taiwan Semiconductor, which rose around 9% each.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising yields to 3.78% from Wednesday’s 3.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ducked $2.01 to $72.33 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were down $18.40 to $1,946.20 U.S. an ounce.
