Canada's main stock index took its lumps by midday Wednesday as crude oil prices fell, while investors were also wary of big bets ahead of March economic growth data.
The TSX stumbled 204.16 points, or 1%, to move into Wednesday noon at 19,535.54.
National Bank of Canada posted lower second-quarter earnings as the lender set aside higher provisions. National shares docked $2.07, or 2.1%, to $98.07.
Glencore Plc is working on a potential improvement to its bid for Teck Resources, and could announce it as soon as the coming weeks, according to a report. Teck shares gathered 29 cents to $52.09.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reports real gross domestic product rose 0.8% in the first quarter, after posting no change in the previous quarter.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 5.31 points to 591.65.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground, energy handing back 2%, health-care issues trailing Tuesday’s close 1.8%, and consumer discretionary stocks sliding 1.7%.
The two gainers proved to be gold, ahead 2.6%, and materials eking up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Wednesday as investors kept an eye on the federal debt ceiling debate in Washington on the final trading day of May.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 244.52 points to break for lunch Wednesday at 32,798.26.
The S&P 500 reversed 33.12 points to 4,172.40.
The NASDAQ tumbled 93.62 points to 12,923.80.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced a deal over the weekend to cap federal baseline spending for two years and raise the debt ceiling, but the agreement has not yet been ratified.
The deal cleared a major test Tuesday night after advancing to the House floor following a seven-to-six vote in the House Rules Committee. The floor vote is expected to take place around 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
With just Wednesday’s session left in the trading month, the NASDAQ is up 5.7%. The S&P 500, however, is near flat for the month, while the Dow has fallen around 3.9%.
The outperformance of the tech-heavy NASDAQ is due in large part to the excitement around artificial intelligence, which briefly pushed Nvidia’s market cap above $1 trillion on Tuesday. However, many on Wall Street are worried that the market’s strength has been too narrow.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury inched higher, lowering yields to 3.66% from Tuesday’s 3.68%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 54 cents to $68.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices galloped $14.70 to $1,972.70 U.S. an ounce.
