Toronto stocks eye worst in over two weeks as miners, financials decline
11:04 am Thursday, August 22nd, 2024
By Nikhil Sharma
(Reuters) -Canada’s main stock index fell on Thursday tracking declines in mining and financial stocks, while investors remained optimistic about the commencement of the rate-easing cycle in the United States.
At 10:28 a.m. ET (14:28 GMT), the S&P/TSX composite index was down 95.87 points, or 0.4%, at 23,025.86. The benchmark index was set to log its worst day since August 6.
The materials sector dropped 1.9%, leading losses, as gold prices dipped over 1% against a firm dollar. [GOL/]
The sector was on track to log its worst day in over two weeks.
The financials sector fell 0.4%, dragged down by a 3.5% slump in shares of Toronto-Dominion Bank after the lender reported a rare quarterly loss as it set aside $2.6 billion to prepare for fines from U.S. regulators.
“Provisions for credit losses in general are going to be the primary focus of analysts, you’re going to see (a) fairly big increase in provisions for credit losses,” said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday will remain in focus, amid acknowledgment on September cuts by other Fed officials.
Market participants are pricing in a higher chance of a 25-basis points cut.
Data showed that U.S. jobless claims rose for the last week, but still suggested a cooling labour market. The S&P Global’s U.S. Composite PMI Output Index fell to a 4-month low in August.
Back home, shares of Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City slipped marginally after the companies shut down their rail networks and locked out about 10,000 workers after labor talks with the Teamsters union failed.
(Reporting by Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Vijay Kishore)
