Canada’s main stock index opened lower on Wednesday after the Bank of Canada’s monetary policy decision, where investors were expecting an interest-rate cut.
The TSX Composite Index doffed 14.01 points to kick off Wednesday at 23,028.44.
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.15 cents at 73.99 cents U.S.
Investment fund Brookfield is reportedly close to selling renewable energy firm Saeta Yields to Masdar of the United Arab Emirates. Brookfield shares took on 24 cents to $65.17.
On the economic slate, Canada’s merchandise imports decreased 1.7% in July, while exports fell 0.4%. Consequently, Canada’s merchandise trade balance with the world moved from a revised deficit of $179 million in June to a surplus of $684 million in July.
And as expected, the Bank of Canada lowered its trendsetting rate, another quarter point to 4.25%, its third straight cut.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange eased back 2.25 points to 552.54.
The 12 subgroups were evenly split, with gold down 0.7%, energy off 0.5%, and information technology, sliding 0.5%.
The half-dozen laggards were led by real-estate, better by 0.8%, communications, ahead 0.7%, and health-care, improving 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 hovered near the flatline Wednesday as Wall Street attempted to bounce back from a steep losing session.
The Dow Jones Industrial index regained 105.61 points, to kick off Wednesday at 41,042.54.
The S&P 500 poked up 9.73 points, or 2.1%, to 5,538.66.
The NASDAQ recovered 10.55 points to 17,146.85.
Nvidia slipped 0.7% after a Bloomberg report said the U.S. Justice Department sent subpoenas to the chipmaker. The move comes after Nvidia tumbled more than 9% in Tuesday’s session amid a broader pullback in semiconductor stocks.
Meta Platforms, Amazon and Microsoft were down more than 1% each.
Wall Street is coming off a losing session, with the major benchmarks posting their worst day going back to the Aug. 5th sell-off, as chip names struggled and the latest economic data implied slowing growth for the U.S. economy. The 30-stock Dow fell more than 600 points, or 1.5%, while the S&P 500 slid 2.1%. The NASDAQ dropped 3.3%.
Corporate earnings season is largely behind investors, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise is set to post earnings after the close. Dollar Tree shed nearly 19% after slashing its guidance.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 3.78% from Tuesday’s 3.84%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dipped 97 cents to $69.37 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices fought their way up 30 cents to $2,523.30.