Canadian equities continued to plunge for a second consecutive session amid widespread drops in commodity prices across the board, whereas U.S. stocks maintained positive momentum due to largely upbeat corporate results and reduced expectations of further interest rate hikes. The S&P/TSX Composite Index dived by 168 points, or 0.9%, on Tuesday to settle at 19,576, trimming its year-to-date gains to 1%.
Even as consumer cyclicals and technology stocks witnessed bullish movement, heavy losses in all other main market sectors, like healthcare, energy, mining, and real estate, pressured the TSX benchmark.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Ero Copper (TSX: ERO) slipped by more than 10% to $16.41 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in ERO stock came a day after the Vancouver-headquartered metal mining firm announced bought deal financing to advance its growth projects and further its regional exploration programs.
The deal, which is expected to close on November 14, involves selling more than 8.5 million common shares of Ero Copper at US$12.35 each to a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets. After this selloff, ERO stock is now down 12%.
Crescent Point Energy, Allied Properties REIT, and Baytex Energy were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they plunged by more than 6% each in the last session.
On the flip side, shares of Stella-Jones (TSX: SJ) popped by 7.4% to $80.87 per share after its third-quarter financial results came out. In the September quarter, the Saint-Laurent-based industrial company’s revenue rose 12.7% year over year to $949 million due mainly to the strong performance of its infrastructure-related businesses.
More importantly, Stella-Jones’s operating profit jumped to $166 million last quarter with the help of a better product mix, reflecting an outstanding 67% increase. Year to date, SJ stock now trades with about 68% gains.
Pet Valu, Jamieson Wellness, and BlackBerry were also among the top-performing TSX stocks yesterday, as they inched up by at least 3.6% each.
Based on their daily trade volume, Crescent Point Energy, Baytex Energy, Suncor Energy, Manulife Financial, and Enbridge were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
After witnessing 4.7% declines in the previous session, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures prices mixed early Wednesday morning. Similarly, metals prices, including gold and silver, continued to extend their losses in the early trading session. Given these negative signals, I expect the commodity-heavy main TSX index to remain under pressure at the open today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will keep a close eye on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s comments about the economy this morning during his speech at the Division of Research and Statistics Centennial Conference in Washington, DC.
On the corporate events side, several TSX-listed companies, including Keyera, Hydro One, TC Energy, Nuvei, CGI, ATS, Osisko Mining, Crombie REIT, Granite REIT, Freehold Royalties, CCL Industries, Suncor Energy, Canadian Apartment Properties REIT, Franco-Nevada, Manulife Financial, Russel Metals, Hudbay Minerals, B2Gold, Lundin Gold, NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT, Tricon Residential, and Nuvista Energy, are set to announce their latest quarterly results on November 8.
Market movers on the TSX today
