Canada’s main stock index edged lower on Wednesday as rising bond yields and weakness in industrials and communication services threatened to snap its five-day winning streak.
The TSX Composite retreated 164.39 points to move into noon hour EDT Wednesday at 21,847.33.
The Canadian dollar surrendered 0.37 cents at 72.87 cents U.S.
Information technology shares gained 0.4%, pulled up by a rise in software company Celstica of five cents to $59.83, ahead of its results on Wednesday.
Consumer staples tracked a gain of 58 cents in Metro to $70.48, after it beat adjusted profit per share estimates for the second quarter.
Industrial shares were pulled down by the Canadian National Railway that fell $8.18, or 4.6%, to $168.61 after its first-quarter revenue missed analysts estimates.
Communication services slipped as Rogers Communications fell $1.89, or 3.5%, to $52.20, as the company topped analyst estimates for first-quarter subscriber additions.
OceanaGold Corp gained three cents to $3.08 after it said on Wednesday it will raise 6.08 billion pesos ($106 million U.S.) through an initial public offering (IPO) of its Philippine unit.
The economic board consists Wednesday of retail trade for February, which decreased 0.1% to $66.7 billion, and the new housing price index was flat on a monthly basis during March, compared to a gain of 0.1% the month before. The index sank 0.4% last month on an annual basis, identical to March last year.
All data in Canada is on the radar after Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem’s hinted in early April that the central bank would be open to a June cut if a cooling trend in inflation was sustained.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange subsided 1.97 points to 573.82.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups had turned negative by midday, as industrials went down 2.5%, communications skidded 1.6%, and health-care dropped 0.9%.
The four gainers were lifted most by consumer staples, ahead 0.5%, gold, eking up 0.1%, and materials, edging up 0.01%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were lower on Wednesday as interest rate fears outweighed a strong slate of corporate earnings that elevated equities in recent days.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 144.83 points by noon to 38,358.86.
The S&P 500 index ditched off 19.27 points to 5,051.28.
The NASDAQ Composite let go of 43.8 points to 15,658.05.
Investors briefly pushed aside worries tied to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy moving forward following a slate of quarterly earnings.
Tesla climbed more than 11% after the company announced a renewed push into “more affordable” electric vehicle models. However, the megacap tech name and retail investor favorite missed expectations on both lines in the latest quarter. Boeing turned lower after initially popping on first-quarter results.
More than 25% of S&P 500 have reported earnings thus far. Of those companies, 79% have beaten earnings estimates,
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sagged, lifting yields to 4.65% from Tuesday’s 4.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices deleted 40 cents to $82.96 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dulled $5.40 to $2,336.70 U.S. an ounce.