Canada's benchmark stock index fell on Tuesday, dragged down by gold mining and material shares, with investors on edge ahead of monetary policy announcements from the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve later in the week.
The TSX Composite Index crumbled 171.5 to 29,259.52.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.7 cents to 72.67 cents U.S.
The BoC is widely expected to cut by a quarter point tomorrow, as a weakening labour market and slowing economic activity increase pressure on the central bank to resume its cycle of lowering rates.
Canada's antitrust regulator said it would review the proposed $53-billion merger of miners Anglo American and Teck Resources, which would be the second-largest merger in mining if approved.
Teck shares dived $1.84, or 3.2%, to $55.95.
Gold stocks fell with New Gold down 36 cents, or 3.9%, to $8.90, Orla Mining was off $1.02, or 5.8%, to $16.59, and Alamos Gold down $2.25, or 4.9%, to $43.79.
Bausch Health fell 26 cents, or 2.6%, to $9.63, dragging on healthcare stocks, while Chartwell Retirement Residences was down 21 cents, or 1.1%, to $19.07.
Offsetting losses, energy index added 1.3%, with Vermillion Energy gained 43 cents, or 5.1%, to $10.82, and Parex Resources up 53 cents, or 2.9%, to $18.72.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.9% year over year in August, up from a 1.7% increase in July. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2% in August.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported housing starts The six-month trend in housing starts increased (1.6%) in August (267,259 units).
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange surrendered 16.15 points, or 1.8%, to 876.83.
All but one of the 12 subgroups were lower, with gold skidding 2.1%, materials doffing 1.8%, and health-care off 1.3%.
The lone gainers was in energy, ahead 2.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks edged lower on Tuesday as investors took in profits and looked to a highly-awaited Federal Reserve meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrials sank 111.81 points to 45,771.64.
The S&P 500 retreated 10.33 points from Monday’s record high to 6,604.95
The tech-heavy NASDAQ index eased 32.04 points to 22,315.71.
Key bull market leaders declined, with shares of Nvidia and Palantir each down about 1%. Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet also edged lower.
Oracle shares gained 4%, meanwhile, after the cloud infrastructure platform was reported to be part of the firms that will enable TikTok to keep operating in the U.S.
Details about the deal on the social media platform come after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday that the U.S. and China have reached a “framework” deal for TikTok, just days ahead of a Wednesday deadline to either divest TikTok’s U.S. business or shut down the social media app in the country.
Investors remain on edge about the so-called reciprocal tariffs set to take effect in November.
Bessent said during an interview on Tuesday that he expects further talks to happen before that deadline, and that “the Chinese now sense that a trade deal is possible” after U.S. and Chinese officials concluded two days of talks on Monday.
President Donald Trump also gave a positive description of the trade discussions on Monday, which led U.S. stocks to rally and pushed the S&P 500 to close above 6,600 for the first time.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that trade discussions had been “deferred” to another time, however, given the intense focus on TikTok.
Prices for 10-year Treasury lost ground, raising rates to 4.04% from Monday’s 4.03%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices pushed higher $1.21 to $64.51 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grew $4.60 to $3,723.60 U.S. an ounce.
S&P Falls from All-Time High
