Canada’s benchmark stock index lost some of its mojo by noon Thursday, giving up gains and sliding into the red tracking strength in its U.S. peers.
The TSX dropped 49.41 points to settle into lunch hour at 20,297.12.
The Canadian dollar remained above water 0.10 cents to 72.56 cents U.S.
Linamar slumped $8.16, or 10.6%, to $68.90, after the auto parts manufacturer missed quarterly profit estimates, prompting a rating downgrade by Veritas Research.
Payment services provider Nuvei led gains on the TSX with its surge of $3.82, or 7.6%, after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “neutral”.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 3.1 points to 622.13.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups turned red by the afternoon, with materials down 1%, financials dipping 0.9%, and consumer discretionary stocks off 0.7%.
The four gainers were led by information technology, surging 1.5%, energy, better by 1.4%, and utilities, inching forward 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks struggled for direction Thursday as traders processed comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and awaited key employment data that could heavily influence the central bank’s next rate decision.
The Dow Jones Industrials hung onto gains of 11.32 points to break for noon EST Thursday at 32,809.72.
The S&P 500 eked up 2.94 points to 3,994.95.
The NASDAQ Composite gained 20.75 points to 11,596.76.
The jobs report, he said, will serve as a reckoning for investors to reassess the economy and the Fed’s outlook short-term, adding that the market is currently in the process of repricing itself.
Bank stocks tumbled on Thursday, led to the downside by plummeting shares of regional bank names. That included SVB Financial, the worst-performing S&P stock. Silvergate shares plummeted 30% on news that it’s shutting down operations.
As of Thursday morning, traders were pricing in a roughly 75% chance of a 50-basis-point increase.
Investors received more news on the state of the labour market ahead of Friday’s closely watched nonfarm payrolls report. Jobless claims for the week ended March 4 rose more than expected, signaling that the labor market may be starting to slow. In retrospect, ADP’s payrolls report and JOLTs data on Wednesday suggested a resilient economy, heightening fears that the Fed needs more hiking to slow it.
Some economists, including those at Citi, expect a positive surprise to the upside come Friday’s payrolls data, following January’s blowout number. Strong jobs growth could mean bad news for the market, wrote strategist Alex Saunders in a Wednesday note to clients.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury climbed, lowering yields to 3.96% from Wednesday’s 3.98%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost nine cents to $76.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $13.80 to $1,836.80 U.S. an ounce.