Canadian equities fell sharply on Tuesday after steep intraday declines in commodity prices, weak U.S. consumer confidence numbers, and mixed corporate results took a toll on investors’ sentiments. As Canada’s 10-year treasury bond yields resumed their upward trend, the S&P/TSX Composite Index dived by 297 points, or 1.3%, yesterday to settle at 21,715 — marking its biggest single-day decline since mid-February.
While favourable marijuana industry-related news from the United States led to an extraordinary rally in cannabis stocks, huge losses in other key sectors like metal mining, energy, and industrials weighed on the TSX benchmark. With this, the TSX index fell 2% in April 2024, ending its five-month winning streak.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) tanked 9.5% to $18.66 per share after announcing its first-quarter financial results and gave updates on the ongoing construction and exploration activities. For the March quarter, the Vancouver-headquartered mining firm posted a loss of $69 million, primarily due to a non-cash loss from convertible bonds with a 26% quarterly share price increase.
On the positive side, Ivanhoe’s Kamoa-Kakula mine sold 85,155 tonnes of copper, helping it generate $618 million in revenue. The company also highlighted that the pre-commissioning of Kamoa-Kakula’s Phase 3 concentrator and Kipushi zinc concentrator is ahead of schedule. Ivanhoe now plans to accelerate the Kamoa-Kakula expansions due to high copper demand forecasts. Despite yesterday’s sharp declines, IVN stock is still up over 45% on a year-to-date basis.
NexGen Energy, OceanaGold, and Cameco were also among the worst-performing TSX stocks yesterday as they plunged by at least 7% each.
On the flip side, Tilray Brands (TSX: TLRY) popped by around 42% to $3.42 per share, making it the top-performing TSX stock for the day. This rally in TLRY, along with most other cannabis stocks, came after the U.S. Department of Justice proposed reclassifying cannabis as a Schedule Three drug, indicating a lower risk of dependence. This potential shift in classification could lead to significant changes in federal cannabis policy, which may benefit large cannabis companies, including Tilray. On a year-to-date basis, TLRY stock is now up about 12%.
Restaurant Brands International and Cargojet also rose by at least 2.7% each, making them among the day’s top-performing stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Based on their daily trade volume, Enbridge, Ivanhoe Mines, First Quantum Minerals, Tilray, and TD Bank were the most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices were trading on a bearish note early Wednesday morning, which could pressure the resource-heavy main TSX index at the open today.
Canadian investors may want to keep a close eye on the latest manufacturing, job openings, and non-farm employment data from the United States this morning. However, the market’s key focus will shift to the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy statement and press conference this afternoon, which could give further direction to TSX stocks today.
As the quarterly corporate earnings season also heats up in Canada, several TSX-listed companies, including Franco-Nevada, GFL Environmental, Lundin Mining, Badger Infrastructure Solutions, Gildan Activewear, Great-West Lifeco, Primaris REIT, Russel Metals, Vermilion Energy, Toromont Industries, Capital Power, CGI, Cenovus Energy, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, Barrick Gold, Fortis, Loblaw Companies, Parkland, and Tourmaline Oil, are likely to announce their latest quarterly results on May 1.
Market movers on the TSX today
