Falling commodity prices and cautious investor sentiment ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision weighed on Canadian stocks for the fourth consecutive session on Tuesday. Even as November’s domestic consumer inflation data gave further signs of cooling price pressures in Canada, the S&P/TSX Composite Index slipped by 28 points to settle at 25,120.
While cooler-than-expected inflation numbers led to a rally in healthcare and technology stocks, losses in many other key sectors, including energy, industrials, and mining, dragged the TSX lower.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Air Canada (TSX:AC) tanked by 9.3% to $22.59 apiece, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in AC stock came after the largest Canadian passenger airline company announced its long-term financial plan at its 2024 Investor Day event.
Air Canada expects its operating revenue to reach about $30 billion by 2028, with a free cash flow margin of about 5%. With these targets, the airline tried to highlight its strategy to focus on consistent margin expansion and disciplined capital allocation. Despite these ambitious targets, investors appeared skeptical, leading to a sharp decline in Air Canada stock. On a year-to-date basis, AC stock now trades with 21% gains.
Bombardier, Energy Fuels, and Seabridge Gold were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each sliding by at least 3.5%.
On the flip side, Tilray, BlackBerry, TransAlta, and Shopify climbed by at least 3.4% each, making them the session’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, Canadian Natural Resources, BCE, Air Canada, Cenovus Energy, and Suncor Energy were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Most commodity prices continued to extend their losses in early morning trading on Wednesday, suggesting a lower opening for the resource-heavy main TSX index today.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors will keep an eye on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, economic projections, and press conference this afternoon, which could bring heightened volatility to Canadian markets.
On the corporate events side, the TSX-listed Canadian Western Bank, which postponed its October quarter earnings report earlier this month, is set to release its delayed results today. Bay Street analysts expect the Canadian lender to post earnings of $0.87 per share with $304.1 million in quarterly revenue.
Market movers on the TSX today
