Canada's main stock index opened lower on Wednesday as financial stocks declined following the central bank's interest rate decision, while Dollarama fell due to a downbeat forecast.
The TSX Composite index ditched 65.53 points to 20,000.39
The Canadian dollar regained 0.33 cents to 82.90 cents U.S.
Dollarama fell 22 cents to $54.05 after the company said its current-quarter earnings would take a hit from fresh COVID-19 restrictions in certain Canadian provinces.
TD Securities raised the target price on Advantage Oil & Gas to $3.25 from $2.50. Advantage shares climbed eight cents, or 1.8%, to $4.59.
TD Securities also raised the target price on Boardwalk REIT to $48.00 from $47.00. Boardwalk units backtracked 23 cents to $40.14.
CIBC raised the rating on Canadian Western Bank to outperform from neutral. Western shares docked 78 cents, or 2.2%, to $35.05.
On the economic calendar, the Bank of Canada maintained interest rates at 0.25%, as expected, the same perch at which it’s been since March 2020. The Bank Rate stays at 0.5%, and the deposit rate at 0.25%.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, under pressure to lift COVID-19-related restrictions along the U.S. border, said on Tuesday that Ottawa would disclose in coming weeks how some measures could be relaxed for fully vaccinated people.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 0.33 points to 974.23.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups had turned positive by the closing bell, with industrials up 1%, real-estate, improving 0.9%, and health-care better by 0.6%.
The four laggards were weighed most by gold, sliding 1%, materials, doffing 0.4%, and communications, behind 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 traded just under its all-time high shortly after the opening bell in New York as markets continued to trade in a tight range on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 31.96 points to begin the mid-week session at 34,567.86.
The much broader index eked up 1.32 points to 4,278.56. The S&P 500 is now just 0.15% below its record high of 4,238.04 reached on May
7.
The NASDAQ acquired 26.26 points to 13,951.17.
Health care, communications and technology stocks led positive stocks shortly into the session, with drugmaker Merck up 1.8%, Twitter up 1.7% and Adobe up 1.5%. Fox Corp. was the best performer in the S&P 500 with an advance of 2.3%.
Meme stock mania continued Wednesday with day traders now focusing their attention on Clover Health. The stock was up another 12% following an 85% rally on Tuesday amid explosive trading volumes. Clean Energy Fuels rallied 30% Wednesday on no apparent news.
Investors await the next reading on inflation to gauge if higher price pressures are just temporary as the economy continues to rebound from the pandemic-induced recession.
The consumer price index for May is set to be released Thursday. Economists are expecting the CPI to rise 4.7% from a year earlier, according to Dow Jones. In April, the CPI increased 4.2% on an annual basis, the fastest rise since 2008.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained sharply, lowering yields to 1.48% from Tuesday’s 1.54%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 28 cents to $70.33 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained $6.40 to $1,900.80 U.S. an ounce.
