The Canadian stock market selloff accelerated Wednesday, as the U.S. debt ceiling standoff stretched further, weighing on investors’ sentiments. Also, dismal bank earnings and falling metals prices added pessimism to drive the S&P/TSX Composite Index down by 280 points, or 1.1%, yesterday to 19,928.
Notably, this was the first time in more than seven weeks that the main TSX index closed below 20,000, with main market sectors, like mining, financials, and industrials, posting big losses.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Filo Mining, Dye & Durham, Ero Copper, and Toromont Industries were the worst performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange for the day, as they plunged by more than 5% each.
Shares of Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) slipped 3.9% yesterday to $112.84 per share after its disappointing quarterly results came out. In the second quarter of its fiscal year 2023 (ended in April), the Toronto-headquartered bank’s revenue rose 27.4% year over year to $8.45 billion largely due to higher net interest income.
Increased expenses and a higher provision for credit losses, however, drove its adjusted quarterly earnings down by 9.3% from a year ago to $2.93 per share. With this, BMO stock now trades with 8% year-to-date losses.
Bank of Nova Scotia also fell 1.3% yesterday, as its April quarter top and bottom line failed to meet Street’s estimates.
On the flip side, Pason Systems was the only TSX Composite component that managed to post more than 2% gains in the last session.
Based on their daily trade volume, Manulife Financial, Suncor Energy, Great-West Lifeco, and Shopify were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
After consistently falling for several days, metals prices turned positive early Thursday morning, which should help TSX mining stocks to recover at the open today. In contrast, oil prices were bearish in early trading, indicating a lower open for energy stocks.
Besides the ongoing debt limit talks, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor quarterly gross domestic product, monthly pending home sales, and weekly jobless claims data from the U.S. market this morning.
On the corporate events front, large TSX-listed banks like the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, and Toronto-Dominion Bank are expected to announce their latest quarterly results on May 25.
Market movers on the TSX today
