The selloff in Canadian stocks picked up speed on Tuesday amid concerns related to the potential U.S. debt default. The S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged 208 points, or 1%, during the session to settle at 20,408.
Recent debt concerns emerged after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the U.S. government might not have enough funds to meet its “obligations by early June, and potentially as early as June 1, if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt limit before that time.”
In addition, weak U.S. job openings numbers kept investors on edge, triggering a massive selloff in oil prices and TSX energy stocks. Besides shares of energy companies, other market sectors, like real estate and banking, also witnessed heavy losses yesterday.
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Colliers International (TSX:CIGI) dived 9.7% to $128.50 per share after first-quarter earnings missed the Street’s expectations by a big margin. In the March 2023 quarter, the Toronto-based real estate and financial services provider’s revenue fell 3.5% from a year ago to US$965.9 million.
Apart from the seasonality factor, a notable decline in its capital markets business pushed its adjusted quarterly earnings down by 40.3% year over year to US$0.86 per share against analysts’ estimate of US$1.42 per share. The recent drop trimmed CIGI stock’s year-to-date gains to 3.3%.
International Petroleum, Athabasca Oil, and CI Financial were also among the worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange in the last session, as they plunged by at least 7% each.
On the flip side, shares of BlackBerry popped by more than 9% to $5.75 per share after the enterprise software firm announced a review process to explore various strategic alternatives, including the separation of one or more of its business units.
TSX-listed gold stocks like OceanaGold and Osisko Gold Royalties were also among the top performers, as they jumped by more than 6% each with the help of a rally in gold prices.
Based on their daily trade volume, Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Enbridge, and Athabasca Oil were the most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
The ongoing selloff in energy stocks is likely to extend today, as West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices continued to fall early Wednesday morning. Even as no domestic economic releases are due, Canadian stocks will likely remain highly volatile, as investors closely monitor the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision and non-farm employment data on May 3.
On the corporate events side, Canadian companies, including Spin Master, Kinaxis, Dundee Precious Metals, Lundin Mining, Badger Infrastructure, IGM Financial, Gildan Activewear, Fortis, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Capstone Copper, Barrick Gold, and Loblaw Companies, are expected to announce their latest quarterly results today.
Market movers on the TSX today
