Robust U.S. labour market and manufacturing data, coupled with weakness in commodity prices, jolted the Canadian stock market on Thursday. As investors feared that the strengthening economic indicators could attract more interest rate hikes, the S&P/TSX Composite Index tanked by 293 points, or 0.5%, during the session to settle at 19,811.
While all key market sectors in Canada witnessed heavy losses, the selloff was primarily led by metal mining, energy, and technology stocks. With this, the TSX benchmark has slid by 1.7% so far this week, giving up a large portion of the gains it saw last week.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Aritzia (TSX:ATZ) plunged 5.8% in the last session to $34.90 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. These declines came after the analysts from Bank of America’s global research team downgraded their ratings on the Canadian design house and apparel retailer from neutral to underperform while slashing their target price from $47 per share to $30 per share.
This downgrade hurt investors’ sentiments, as Aritzia is preparing to report its May 2023 quarter financial results next week on Tuesday. On a year-to-date basis, ATZ stock is now down 26.3%.
NexGen Energy, OceanaGold, and BlackBerry were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange yesterday, as they plunged by more than 5% each.
On the flip side, Badger Infrastructure Solutions and Magna International were among the top performers, as they inched up by at least 2.8% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, TD Bank, Scotiabank, Enbridge, and Suncor Energy were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices were rebounding early Friday morning, which could slightly lift the resource-heavy TSX index at the open today.
Besides domestic purchasing managers’ index and labour market data releases, Canadian investors may also want to keep an eye on the monthly hourly earnings, non-farm payrolls, and unemployment rate numbers from the U.S. market this morning. These important economic releases amid concerns about more rate hikes will likely give further direction to TSX stocks.
Market movers on the TSX today
