The Canadian stock market continued to decline for the third consecutive session on Friday as rising treasury bond yields and uncertainty about the timing of upcoming interest rate cuts kept investors on their toes. The S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged by 210 points, or 1%, in the last session to settle at 21,900.
While all key sectors ended the session in the red territory, heavy losses in healthcare, technology, and consumer cyclical stocks weighed most on the market index. With this, the TSX benchmark fell 1.6% during the week — ending its eight-week winning streak.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
MTY Food Group (TSX: MTY) stock tanked by nearly 10% to $45.16 per share, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in MTY stock came after the Saint Laurent-headquartered firm announced its weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings due mainly to reduced consumer spending and extreme weather conditions.
In the February 2024 quarter, MTY’s revenue slipped by 2.6% from a year ago to $278.6 million with fewer recurring revenue streams. Lower system sales also drove the company’s quarterly earnings down by 5.3% year over year to $0.71 per share, worse than Bay Street analysts’ expectations of $0.85 per share. After the recent selloff, MTY stock is now down 30% on a year-to-date basis and offers a 2.5% annualized dividend yield.
First Majestic Silver, Orla Mining, and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were also among the session’s bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange as they dived by at least 4.7% each.
On the flip side, Labrador Iron Ore Royalty and Whitecap Resources stood out as the top-performing TSX stocks for the day, rising by at least 1.5% each.
According to the exchange’s daily trade volume data, TC Energy, TD Bank, B2Gold, Enbridge, and Canadian Natural Resources were the five most active stocks.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were volatile early Monday morning as geopolitical tensions in West Asia escalated during the weekend after Iran launched an aerial attack on Israel. TSX investors may want to remain cautious today as any major update related to these conflicts could lead to a wild movement in commodity-linked stocks.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will keep an eye on the monthly retail sales numbers from the United States this morning.
Market movers on the TSX today
