Canada's main stock index fell on Monday after Chrystia Freeland resigned her two posts as finance minister and deputy prime minister abruptly ahead of the mid-term budget, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's rate decision later this week.
The TSX shed 127.09 points to close Monday at 25,147.21, after last week’s drop of 1.6%
The Canadian dollar shaved off 0.1 cents to 70.18 cents U.S.
Freeland quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament, a document widely expected to show the Liberal government had run up a much larger 2023/24 budget deficit than planned.
"Her reference to – "costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment" – isn't giving investors confidence in the government's response to proposed 25% tariffs from the Trump administration," said one financial industry official.
In corporate news, Barrick Gold will suspend operations in Mali if gold shipments continue to be blocked, the company said, as it struggles to reach agreement with authorities on a new mining code in the West African country. Barrick shares gave back 61 cents, or 2.6%, to $23.29.
Communication stocks, meanwhile, took a beating, primarily BCE, down $2.25, or 6.2%, to $34.09, while Rogers lost $1.90, or 4%, to $45.64.
Energy suffered, as Baytex Energy doffed 17 cents, or 4.8%, to $5.40, while Veren Inc. shed 25 cents, or 3.8%, to $6.67.
In materials, Algoma Steel tumbled 63 cents, or 4.4%, to $13.74, while First Quantum Minerals lost 77 cents, or 4%, to $18.63.
On the other hand, BlackBerry soared 57 cents, or 14.9%, to $4.40, after it reached an agreement to sell its Cylance business to Arctic Wolf.
Elsewhere in tech stocks, Bitfarms picked up 20 cents, or 7.3%, to $2.96.
In other economic news, figures released Monday by the Canadian Real Estate Association showed national home sales rose 2.8% month-over-month. Actual (not seasonally-adjusted) monthly activity came in 26% above November 2023.
Moreover, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported home sales totaling 252,400 in November, compared to 242,200 in the same month last year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 6.59 points, or 1.1 to 601.25
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, weighed most by communications, off 3.2%, while energy was down 2%, materials dipped 1.4%.
The lone holdout was in information technology, which inched up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The NASDAQ Composite rose to a record, aided by a rally in tech, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting.
The Dow Jones Industrial index dumped 110.21 points to 43,819.11, running its losing streak to eight straight sessions.
The S&P 500 index recovered 23.03 points to 6,074.12
The tech-heavy NASDAQ spiked 247.17 points, or 1.2%, to 20,173.89.
Shares of Apple, Google-parent Alphabet, electric car maker Tesla and AI-chipmaker Broadcom all rallied to fresh all-time highs. Broadcom, which topped a $1 trillion market value for the first time last week, led the NASDAQ higher with a gain of 11%. The tech and consumer discretionary sectors of the S&P 500 also closed at records.
Bucking the upward trend was artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, the market favorite that led stocks higher the past two years, pulling back 1.7% and falling into a correction of more than 10% from its recent all-time high in mid-November.
The Fed set to begin its two-day policy meeting Tuesday. It’s expected to cut rates by a quarter-point at its conclusion on Wednesday. The key for investors will be forward guidance on future policy moves.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged a bit, raising yields to 4.40% from Friday’s 4.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 29 cents to $70.60 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold settled $5.60 an ounce to $2,670.20 U.S.
