Stocks in Toronto let go of earlier gains Tuesday, as investor suspense over whether central banks’ moves to wrestle down inflation would prove effective.
The TSX Composite Index fell 75.08 points to wind up Tuesday at 21,715.41.
The Canadian dollar handed back 0.12 cents to 79.09 cents U.S.
Tilray Brands gave up 20 cents, or 2.5% to $7.87, after it agreed to buy $193 million of Hexo’s remaining debt, in a deal that gives the cannabis producer a right to pick up a significant equity stake in its troubled rival.
Bausch Health Companies faded 43 cents, or 1.5%, to $28.42.
In financials, Laurentian Bank tumbled $1.04, or 2.5%, to $40.39, while Home Capital Group dropped 74 cents, or 2.1%, to $34.18.
Among techs, Shopify collapsed $31.43, or 4%, to $748.59, while Evertz Technologies fell 49 cents, or 3.2%, to $14.80.
Energy tried to pump things up, with Whitecap Resources jumping 48 cents, or 4.8%, to $10.53, while Nuvista Resources gained 44 cents, or 4.1%, to $11.14.
Among gold issues, Sandstorm Gold picked up 14 cents, or 1.1%, to $11.41, while Torex Gold Resources acquired 22 cents, or 1.4%, to $15.72.
In other resources, Endeavour Silver added 32 cents, or 5.1%, to $6.60, while K92 Mining moved forward 45 cents, or 4.9%, to $9.59.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health say the province is in the sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The wave is driven by the highly transmissible BA.2 sub-variant of the Omicron coronavirus and hospitalizations are likely to rise over the coming weeks.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 4.79 points to 881.12.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower Tuesday, with health-care plunging 1.4%, financials down 1.1%, and information technology slumping 0.7%.
The three gainers were energy, rocketing 2.4%, gold, brighter 0.9%, and materials stronger 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Tuesday, after an early morning bounce gave way to selling as investors weighed the latest U.S. inflation data. The report showed another sharp increase in prices for last month.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 87.72 points to 34,220.36.
The S&P 500 retreated 15.08 points to 4,397.45
The NASDAQ Composite faded 40.38 points to 13,371.57.
Tech stocks gave up earlier gains after popping to start the day. Microsoft dropped 1%, and Nvidia fell 2%.
Energy stocks tracked oil prices upward. Occidental Petroleum jumped 2.5%, Devon Energy gained 4%, Marathon Oil popped 5.1% and Chevron spiked 2.3%.
Consumer prices for March increased 1.2% month-to-month and 8.5% annually, the Labor Department said on Tuesday. But traders were focusing on the core reading, which excludes food and energy prices.
Core CPI in March increased 0.3%, below the consensus economist estimate from Dow Jones of 0.5%. Core prices on an annual basis were up 6.5%.
Treasury prices gained ground, putting yields back down to 2.73%, from Monday’s 2.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices regained $6.44 to $100.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $22.00 to $1,978.10 U.S. an ounce.