Canadian equities fell sharply on Tuesday, as fears of more rate hikes alarmed investors. The S&P/TSX Composite Index dived by 239 points, or 1.2%, to settle at 20,276. With this, the index marked its worst single-day losses since February 21.
The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, in his testimony before the U.S. Senate on March 7, said that “if the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes,” triggering a selloff across key stock market sectors. In addition, big losses across commodity markets drove shares of metal mining and energy companies lower.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
BlackBerry (TSX:BB) stock tanked 11.7% to $4.81 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX Composite component for the day. These big losses in BB stock came a day after the Waterloo-based software firm announced the preliminary financial results for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2023 (ended in February).
BlackBerry expects its quarterly revenue to be around US$151 million, as macroeconomic challenges continued to hurt its cybersecurity segment. This expected revenue figure was lower than analysts’ estimates of US$160.7 million, hurting investors’ sentiments. On a year-to-date basis, BB stock now trades with 9.1% gains.
Equinox Gold, IAMGOLD, and Centerra Gold were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, as they slipped by at least 5.4% each.
On the flip side, shares of BELLUS Health and Brookfield Renewable Partners advanced by at least 3.1% each, making them the top-performing TSX stocks for the day.
Suncor Energy, Manulife Financial, Canadian Natural Resources, and TD Bank were among the most active Canadian stocks based on their daily trade volume.
TSX today
After witnessing heavy losses in the last session, commodity prices across the board were mixed early Wednesday morning, pointing to a flat open for the main TSX benchmark today. Fed chair’s testimony before the U.S. Senate will continue for the second consecutive day today. Besides that, the Bank of Canada’s latest interest rate decision, U.S. job openings, and non-farm employment data will be on TSX investors’ radar and add to the market volatility.
On the corporate events front, several large TSX-listed companies, including Vermilion Energy, Parex Resources, Linamar, Granite REIT, Peyto Exploration & Development, WSP Global, Spin Master, Nuvei, Stella-Jones, and Transcontinental, are expected to release their latest quarterly results on March 8.
Market movers on the TSX today
