Canada's main stock index remained lower midday Tuesday, with miners leading the declines, as investors weighed the ongoing stalemate in the Iran war and ?the skepticism about whether AI investments can generate sustainable returns for tech stocks.
The TSX Composite Index lost 203.08 points by noon to 33,615.11.
The Canadian dollar plunged 0.24 cents at 73.12 cents U.S.
Among miners, AbraSilver Resources failed $1.44, or 8.3%, to $15.95. Lithium Americas dived 49 cents, or 6.9%, to $6.66, and NovaGold Resources fell 74 cents, or 6.3%, to $11.08, tracking lower gold and silver prices.
Barrick Mining fell $1.71, or 4.2%, to $38.96, after the miner named Wessel Hamman as CFO of the new company that will hold Barrick's North American assets after its IPO.
Investors also awaited the monetary policy decision by the Bank ?of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
Money markets are pricing in no change to the policy rate by BoC this week and at least one quarter-point hike by ?the end of 2026.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 30.05 points, or 3%, to 990.24.
Still, eight of the 12 TSX subgroups had gained ground by noon EDT, led by energy, ahead 2.5%, telecoms, better by 1%, and utilities, up 0.7%.
The four laggards proved to be gold, sinking 4/7%, while materials and information technology each stuttered 4.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ fell on Tuesday, weighed down by a report that pointed to weakness in OpenAI as well as a rise in oil prices.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered 95.95 points to 49,263.74, lifted by a more than 5% gain in shares of Coca-Cola the company reported better-than-expected earnings.
The much broader index backpedaled 50.42 points to 7,123.47
The tech-driven NASDAQ plummeted 324.7 points, or 1.2%, to 24,582.08.
OpenAI recently saw revenue and new users growth that were below its own targets, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The report added that CFO Sarah Friar told leadership she was concerned OpenAI may not be able to pay computing contracts in the future if its top line doesn’t expand fast enough.
The report sent tech lower. Nvidia lost more than 3%, while Broadcom pulled back more than 4%. Advanced Micro Devices and Intel were down 4% each, as did Oracle.
Tuesday’s moves come after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit record highs on Monday. The market’s gains were kept in check as peace talks between the U.S. and Iran appeared to come to a standstill.
The news comes during a major earnings week for the stock market, with five of the “Magnificent Seven” tech titans slated to report.
Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft are due Wednesday, while Apple’s results are set for Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury turned lower, pushing yields up to 4.36% from Monday’s 4.33%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices increased $3.34 to $99.71 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $96.40 to $4,597.30 U.S. an ounce.
