Stocks Remain in Negative Country by Noon - InvestingChannel

Stocks Remain in Negative Country by Noon

Equities in Canada’s largest centre were subdued on Monday, with energy and technology stocks among the top decliners, at the start of a week packed with interest rate decisions from central banks around the world.

The TSX dipped 44.4 points to move cautiously into Monday afternoon at 20,670.08.

The Canadian dollar stepped back 0.23 cents at 74.92 cents U.S.

Industrial stocks such as Ritchie Bros Auctioneers, progressed $1.54, or 2%, to $79.99.

Among individual stocks, Fairfax Financial Holdings climbed $15.96, or 1.9%, to $867.26 after BMO raised the insurer’s rating to “outperform” from “market perform”.

Markets will be on the lookout for Canadian GDP data due Tuesday, which will follow a 25-basis-point rate hike last week from the Bank of Canada, which became the first major central bank to say it would likely hold off on further increases for now.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 1.72 points to 620.92.

Eight of the 12 subgroups were lower, with health-care off 2.6%, while information technology gave back 1.7%, and energy lost 0.9%..

The four gainers were industrials, up 0.8%, while communications and consumer staples each advanced 0.3%.

ON WALLSTREET

The S&P 500 traded lower Monday amid a January rally as investors braced for the busiest week of earnings season and a possible interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones Industrials fell back 45.52 points to pause for lunch at 33,932.56.

Ford shares fell more than 1% after the automaker said it’s cutting prices and ramping up production on its electric Mustang Mach-E crossover, following a similar announcement from Tesla.

The S&P 500 faltered 23.44 points to 4,047.12.

Still, the S&P 500 is headed for its best January since 2019 when it gained nearly 8%. As of Monday morning, the broader market index is up 5.2% for 2023 following a 19% loss last year.

However, there are several tests this week for the 2023 rally. About 20% of the S&P 500 will report earnings this week, including McDonald’s and General Motors on Tuesday followed by tech giants Apple, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Alphabet later in the week.

The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 133.94 points, or 1.2%, to 11,487.77.

Wall Street is coming off a winning week as the stock market’s January rally continued. The NASDAQ gained 4.3% for the week, while the S&P 500 moved ahead 2.5% and Dow added 1.8%. The S&P 500 is up 5.3% for 2023 following a 19% loss last year and closed at a new year-to-date high on Friday.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets on Tuesday and Wednesday, when the Fed is expected to hike rates by one-quarter of a percentage point. Investors will be looking for clues about how much higher the central bank will take rates in the fight against inflation.

Traders have pushed stocks higher this year in part because of softer inflation reports, which they suspect could cause the Fed to soon pause its hiking campaign.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury fell slightly, raising yields to 3.56% from Friday’s 3.52%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices retreated two cents to $79.66 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices doffed $5.20 to $1,940.40 U.S. an ounce.

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