The U.S. debt default concerns and first-quarter corporate results kept Canadian equities highly unstable on Tuesday. After opening nearly 100 points lower, the S&P/TSX Composite benchmark ended the volatile session at 20,586, without any notable change from its previous closing.
While an intraday rally in industrial and energy stocks came as a relief, weakness in other key market sectors, including healthcare and banking, dragged the market index down. Even as U.S. president Joe Biden met the congressional leadership for talks late on Wednesday, the uncertainties about the decision on raising or suspending the debt ceiling kept investors on edge.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of SNC-Lavalin Group (TSX:SNC) jumped 12.2% yesterday to $35.88 per share, as its better-than-expected March quarter results cheered investors. During the first quarter of 2023, the Montréal-headquartered industrial firm’s revenue rose 8.1% year over year to $2.02 billion, primarily with the help of the strong performance of its engineering services segment.
SNC’s quarterly net profit also climbed to $28.4 million last quarter, showcasing 14.5% positive growth from a year ago, as it seems on track to meet its 2023 guidance. Interestingly, after the recent rally, SNC stock is now up more than 50% on a year-to-date basis.
Energy Fuels, Russel Metals, and Dye & Durham were also among the top TSX performers in the last session, as they inched up by more than 7% each.
On the flip side, Canopy Growth and Osisko Mining slipped by at least 5.4% each, making them the worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange for the day.
Based on their daily trade volume, Tourmaline Oil, Enbridge, Suncor Energy, and Manulife Financial remained among the most active stocks for the second session in a row.
TSX today
Oil and copper were trading on a bearish note early Wednesday morning, which could pressure the commodity-heavy TSX index at the open today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may not want to miss tracking monthly inflation numbers from the United States this morning.
As the busy corporate earnings season continues, many TSX-listed companies, including Nutrien, Osisko Gold Royalties, Freehold Royalties, Torex Gold, Stelco, Manulife Financial, Athabasca Oil, Nuvei, Boyd Group, Dye & Durham, Ballard Power Systems, and Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, are expected to announce their latest quarterly results on May 10.
Market movers on the TSX today
