Equities in Canada’s largest centre fell Wednesday after two straight days of huge gains, weighed down by tech shares, while the Bank of Canada held its key overnight interest rate unchanged and maintained its rate-hike stance.
The S&P/TSX Composite slumped 85.3 points to close Wednesday at 21,077.35
The Canadian dollar sank 0.33 cents at 79.04 cents U.S.
Leading losses in the index was the technology sector with Nuvei Corp falling $48.38, or 38.9%, to $75.02, following a new short call from Spruce Point Capital Management. Elsewhere in techs, Tecsys let go of $2.98, or 6.1%, to $46.06.
Industrials also took a pounding, with WSP Global slipped $5.19, or 2.8%, to $179.78, while SNC Lavalin got rid of 55 cents, or 1.7%, to $31.63.
In communication stocks, BCE skidded 42 cents to $65.75, while BCE dropped 42 cents to $65.75.
Health-care, however, tried to even things out, with Organigram Holdings climbing nine cents, or 3.5%, to $2.63, while Canopy Growth moved higher 36 cents, or 2.7%, to $13.84.
In materials, First Quantum Mining took on 35 cents, or 1.2%, to $29.30, while Capstone Mining gained seven cents, or 1.2%, to $5.90.
In consumer staples, Saputo grew 80 cents, or 2.8%, to $29.42, while Alimentation Couche-Tard added 78 cents, or 1.6% to $21.91.
Government documents show that for three straight years, Alberta’s government granted Canada’s most emissions-intense oil sands facility reductions in payments that polluters are required to make for generating
higher emissions than most of the industry.
On the economic slate, as expected the Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at the effective lower bound of 0.25%, with the Bank Rate at 0.5%
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.12 points to 924.67.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the session, as information technology dived 2.1%, industrials were down 1%, and communications slumped 0.6%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, picking up 1.5%, while materials and consumer staples each jumped 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were slightly higher Wednesday as investors continued to bet the impact of the omicron variant of Covid-19 would not be as threatening as many previously thought.
The Dow Jones Industrials recovered from early losses and spiked 35.32 points to finish at 35,754.75
The S&P 500 index recaptured 14.46 points to 4,701.21.
The NASDAQ vaulted 100.07 points at 15,786.99.
Some of the comeback was validated by vaccine news Wednesday. Pfizer and BioNTech said three doses of their vaccine are effective at neutralizing the omicron variant, citing their own preliminary lab tests. They also said two doses may still protect against severe disease.
Pfizer shares, which are up 6.3% in the last month, fell slightly.
Many had already anticipated the new variant would be manageable, an expectation that helped drive the rebound Monday and subsequent rally Tuesday.
Still, travel-related stocks continued roaring higher as the news gave investors added confidence in reopening bets. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 8.2% and was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500, followed by Carnival and Royal Caribbean, which were each more than 5% higher.
Airline and casino stocks made big moves too, including United Airlines and Las Vegas Sands, which each gained more than 4%. The Invesco Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment ETF rose 1.1%.
Zigmont said the market is highly technical right now, and that investors and traders stampeded into stocks after seeing a bottom “to take advantage of what everyone thinks is coming next, which is higher highs.” Those new highs probably won’t come until January, however, he added.
Elsewhere, PagerDuty shares surged 11.2% after the maker of IT response software gave better-than-expected current-quarter revenue guidance.
Shares of Meta Platforms climbed 2.4% after the company gave its employees the option to delay their return to the office, currently scheduled for the end of January, by three to five months.
Apple shares are also higher by 2.2% after UBS maintained its buy rating on the stock despite recent concerns about demand for the iPhone 13.
However, those gains were offset by downward moves across the rest of the market.
Shares of Stitch Fix tumbled 23.9% after issuing disappointing current-quarter revenue guidance and membership metrics.
Grill maker Weber’s shares fell 5.1% after it reported a narrower-than-expected loss for its latest quarter.
While the majority of S&P 500 companies have reported third-quarter earnings, GameStop and Rent the Runway will report on Wednesday after the bell.
The amount of workers who left their jobs due to dissatisfaction or better opportunities elsewhere fell in October by 4.7%, the department said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as JOLTS, on Wednesday. The level of job openings accelerated 4.1% to just below its all-time high.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys declined, raising yields to 1.53% from Tuesday’s 1.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 56 cents to $72.61 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained 50 cents to $1,785.20 U.S. an ounce.