After rising for three consecutive sessions, Canadian stocks slipped on Thursday as hotter-than-expected U.S. wholesale inflation figures and mixed corporate earnings prompted some profit-taking following the market’s recent record-setting run. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gave up 77 points, or 0.3%, to close at 27,916, trimming its weekly gains to 0.6%.
Despite positive movement in healthcare and utility stocks, sharp declines in some key sectors like technology and industrials weighed heavily on the TSX’s performance, overshadowing gains in defensive stocks.
Top TSX Composite movers and active stocks
Shares of Bird Construction (TSX: BDT) tanked by over 15% to $25.44 apiece, making it the worst-performing TSX stock for the day. This selloff in BDT stock came after the Etobicoke-based construction firm announced its second-quarter earnings, missing Street analysts’ expectations.
Last quarter, Bird Construction’s revenue fell 2.6% year over year as many of its major clients delayed projects amid economic uncertainty. While its gross profit margin and adjusted earnings improved from a year ago, the company’s management warned that similar delays are likely to weigh on its third-quarter results. Investors appeared to focus on the guidance of continued project delays, prompting the sharp drop in BDT shares, which now trades with a 2.4% year-to-date decline.
Wesdome Gold Mines, Constellation Software, and TerraVest Industries were also among the bottom performers on the Toronto Stock Exchange, with each diving by at least 4.8%.
In contrast, Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX) jumped around 15% to $10.80 per share following the release of strong quarterly results and an upbeat outlook. The gold miner reported revenue of $478.6 million for the second quarter, up sharply from $269.4 million a year ago, driven by higher production and stronger realized gold prices of $3,207 per ounce.
Equinox also reaffirmed its full-year guidance of 785,000 to 915,000 ounces and expects a major growth inflection in the third quarter, supported by a full-quarter contribution from Calibre, the Greenstone Mine ramp-up, and the Valentine Mine start-up.
Bausch Health and Energy Fuels also jumped by 3.2% each, making them among the session’s top-performing TSX stocks.
Based on their daily trade volume, Equinox Gold, Manulife Financial, Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, and Whitecap Resources were the five most active stocks on the exchange.
TSX today
Commodity prices across the board were volatile in early trading on Friday ahead of the closely watched meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that has heightened market expectations for potential geopolitical breakthroughs. Given that, the TSX index could remain flat at the open today, with energy and mining stocks likely to see the most movement.
While no major domestic economic releases are due, Canadian investors may want to keep an eye on the latest U.S. retail sales data this morning. Overall, TSX remains vulnerable to swings in sentiment today as investors weigh geopolitical risks.
Market movers on the TSX today
