Canada’s main stock index slipped on Tuesday as materials stocks dropped, hurt by a selloff in copper miner First Quantum over continued challenges in Panama, while a rise in energy shares capped losses.
The TSX Composite squeezed higher 13.45 points to reach noon EDT Tuesday at 18,870.21.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.28 cents at 72.03 cents U.S.
First Quantum said on Tuesday that “unconstitutionality challenges” have been brought against the law granting mining concession contracts, a day after the Panama government said it will hold a referendum to decide on the company’s contract. Shares of the Canadian miner were down $3.09, or 15.5%, touching its lowest levels in nearly three years, at $16.91.
The information technology index fell, led by a decline of 14 cents, or 2.7%, in BlackBerry shares to $4.89, after the firm announced the retirement of Chief Executive Officer John Chen on Monday. Dye & Durham shares gained 20 cents, or 2.4%, to $8.60, as the cloud-based software firm reported first-quarter results.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported gross domestic product was essentially unchanged in August as services-producing industries edged up 0.1% while goods-producing industries contracted 0.2%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 0.1 points to 513.34.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive midday, with communications up 0.6%, energy, better by 0.5%, and information technology, ahead 0.4%.
The four laggards were weighed most by materials, declining 1.2%, gold, off 1%, and utilities, skidded 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 is little changed Tuesday, with traders set to close out a dismal month that saw Treasury yields surge to multi-year highs.
The Dow Jones Industrials was off its lows of the morning, but retreating 42.04 points, to break for lunch Tuesday at 32,886.92, after Monday’s climb of more than 500 points.
The S&P 500 index nudged ahead 0.13 points to 4,166.95.
The NASDAQ sank 42.11 points to 12,747.75.
Communication services was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector, down by 0.8%. Notably, shares of Netflix, Alphabet and Meta Platforms were off by about 1%, each.
Earnings season continued Tuesday, with Caterpillar reporting earnings for the third quarter that exceeded estimates. However, Caterpillar said its fourth-quarter revenue would only be “slightly” higher than the year-ago period, worrying investors that it could miss analysts’ expectations. Shares were down more than 5%.
JetBlue shares dropped more than 14% after the airline’s third-quarter results missed expectations on the top and bottom lines.
Stocks are headed for their third-straight losing month. The Dow has declined 2% and the S&P 500 is down about 3%. This marks the first three-month losing streak for both indexes since March 2020. The tech-heavy NASDAQ has declined more than 3% month to date, also on pace for its third negative month in a row.
Wall Street is also keeping a close eye on the Fed’s next decision on interest rates this Wednesday. Fed funds futures pricing suggests a roughly 98% probability that the central bank will keep rates at current levels.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury made small gains, lowering yields to 4.86% from Monday’s 4.89%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 29 cents to $82.60 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted $1.30 to $2,004.30.