TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index crept lower Thursday with mixed results across the indexes, buoyed by energy stocks, industrials and base metals, while U.S. stock markets were also down.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 35.79 points at 19,241.22.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 146.51 points at 32,001.25. The S&P 500 index was down 39.80 points at 3,719.89, while the Nasdaq composite was down 181.86 points at 10,342.94.
It’s been a surprisingly quiet day for the markets, said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
“Considering how much action we had yesterday afternoon, today’s been awfully quiet,” he said.
The Nasdaq is down on tech earnings, noted Cieszynski, but in Canada commodities have been keeping the TSX afloat.
The TSX’s energy index was up 2.58 per cent, while industrials were up 1.11 per cent, base metals 1.33 per cent, and battery metals down 6.71 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.73 cents US, compared with 73.37 cents US on Wednesday.
The December crude oil contract was down US$1.83 at US$88.17 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was down 29 cents at US$5.98 per mmBTU.
Cieszynski said for a few days now, energy stocks have been doing better than energy prices, when normally they move in tandem.
It’s likely because stock prices are more forward-looking than commodity prices, he said.
“Energy praises still are trading at a pretty robust level for producers,” he said.
Some Canadian companies reporting earnings Thursday spoke about the uncertain months ahead, such as Bombardier, which said it’s prepared for an unstable market, and Lightspeed Commerce, which said it’s cautious for the upcoming holiday season.
“It’s not a surprise,” Cieszynski said. “It would be prudent for companies to show some caution at this time.”
“Even if Canada and the U.S. have been kind of muddling along, the wider global economy has been really struggling.”
North America is sailing steady seas compared to other countries, said Cieszynski. Europe is heading for a potential energy crisis and the Bank of England just reversed course to hike interest rates up.
With both the Bank of Canada and the Federal Reserve signalling smaller hikes are on the horizon, we may be heading into a less volatile period, he said. Employment data being released Friday will give us a better idea of where we are headed, he added.
The December gold contract was down US$19.10 at US$1,630.90 an ounceand the December copper contract was down four cents at US$3.43 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 3, 2022.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX_CADUSD=X)
