Canadian stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after the much stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales data made investors worried about the possibility that the Federal Reserve will not slash interest rates in the next meeting. The S&P/TSX Composite Index tanked by 253 points, or 1.2%, yesterday to settle at 20,695 — its lowest closing level of 2024.
While big losses in metals prices drove metal and mining stocks lower, heavy losses in other main market sectors like real estate, utilities, healthcare, and energy also accelerated the selloff in the TSX benchmark.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) tanked 6.7% to $12.66 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. These declines in FM stock came after a Reuters report said that the Vancouver-based metal miner had submitted a plan to Panama’s trade ministry to preserve its Cobre Panama copper mine after an unexpected operation halt.
Besides this news update, an intraday weakness in copper prices could also be responsible for driving First Quantum stock downward in the last session. Despite yesterday’s drop, FM stock is still up 16.7% on a month-to-date basis.
Pan American Silver, First Majestic Silver, and New Gold were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, as they plunged by more than 5% each.
On the flip side, Kinaxis and Parex Resources rose by at least 2.6% each, making them the session’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, TD Bank, Cenovus Energy, Royal Bank of Canada, Enbridge, and Power Corporation of Canada were the exchange’s five most heavily traded stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were mixed early Thursday morning, pointing to a flat open for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the latest weekly jobless claims, crude oil stockpiles, and monthly manufacturing data from the United States this morning.
On the corporate events side, the TSX-listed Richelieu Hardware will announce its November quarter financial results on January 18. Street analysts expect the Saint Laurent-headquartered specialty hardware firm to report earnings of $0.53 per share with the help of $444 million in revenue.
Market movers on the TSX today
