A five-session winning streak in the Canadian equities market came to an end on Wednesday as weaker-than-expected domestic retail sales data and mixed corporate earnings made investors nervous about the economic outlook, leading to a spike in Canada’s 10-year treasury bond yields. The S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped by 138 points, or 0.6%, to settle at 21,874 — trimming its week-to-date gains to 0.3%.
Although some sectors, like consumer noncyclicals and mining, witnessed minor gains, a selloff in industrial and technology stocks weighed on the TSX benchmark.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Canadian Pacific Kansas City (TSX: CP) plunged by more than 6% to $112.23 per share after announcing its slightly weaker-than-expected first-quarter earnings. In the March quarter, the railway giant’s total revenue jumped by 55.3% YoY (year over year) to $3.5 billion.
However, Canadian Pacific’s adjusted quarterly earnings rose only 3.3% from a year ago to $0.93 per share, missing estimates, due partly to a 65% YoY increase in its operating expenses with higher equipment rent and fuel charges. Despite the recent declines, CP stock is still up 7% on a year-to-date basis.
Similarly, a 5.5% YoY decline in Canadian National Railway’s first-quarter adjusted earnings drove its share prices down by nearly 5% yesterday, trimming its year-to-date gains to 1.1%.
Equinox Gold, TFI International, and Osisko Mining were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, falling more than 4% each.
On the flip side, Winpak and SilverCrest Metals inched up by at least 4.8% each, making them the day’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, TD Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia, Royal Bank of Canada, Enbridge, and National Bank of Canada were the most heavily traded stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were mixed early Thursday morning, pointing to a flat opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today. While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to closely monitor the first-quarter growth data in the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
On the corporate events side, several TSX-listed companies, including TFI International, Agnico Eagle Mines, Advantage Oil & Gas, Eldorado Gold, Bombardier, Precision Drilling, Teck Resources, Secure Energy, and Mullen Group, are likely to announce their latest quarterly results on April 25.
Market movers on the TSX today
