Canada's main stock index opened lower on Wednesday, pressured by broad declines as oil prices rose, while investors awaited interest rate decisions from the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The TSX stumbled 358.99 points, or 1.4%, to open Wednesday trading at 32,570.10
The dollar inched down 0.16 cents to 72.89 cents U.S.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported foreign investors purchased $46.7 billion of Canadian securities in January, led by an unprecedented monthly investment in the Canadian bond market.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors acquired $11.4 billion of foreign securities, following an investment of $13.1 billion in the previous month.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported the number of home sales recorded over Canadian MLS® Systems dipped 1.3% on a month-over-month basis in February.
Lastly, the Bank of Canada did as expected, holding its trendsetting interest rate at 2.25% for March
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 14.58 points, or 1.4%, to 996.49.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower in the first hour, as gold lost 5% of its luster, materials weakened 4.5%, and consumer staples shed 1.4%.
The two gainers were information technology, up 0.4%, and energy, inching up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Wednesday after a hotter-than-expected producer price index reading and as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s rate policy decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 212.23 points to begin the mid-week session at 46,781.03
The S&P 500 index slumped 21.45 points to 6,694.64.
The NASDAQ withered 67.15 points to 22,412.38.
With respect to earnings, eyes are on Micron Technology, as the chipmaker is slated to release its latest quarterly results after the bell Wednesday. The stock has been on a tear this year, rallying nearly 62% amid soaring demand for high-bandwidth memory.
The producer price index — which tracks the change in wholesale prices — rose 0.7% in February, well above the 0.3% economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated. The report shows that inflation was already in a precarious spot prior to the Iran war breaking out — an event that has heightened stagflation fears amid rising oil prices.
Investors are now looking ahead to the Fed’s interest rate decision expected on Wednesday. Markets are expecting the central bank to keep interest rates unchanged in a range between 3.5% to 3.75%. Traders will be watching for any guidance from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on whether oil prices could impact future monetary policy
Prices for the 10-year Treasury settled, raising yields to 4.22% from Tuesday’s 4.20%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices pointed higher $2.80 to $99.01 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stumbled $142.10 to $4,866.10 U.S. an ounce.
