Canada's main stock market was weaker in the midweek trading session. Positive earnings news gave an early boost to equities but gains faded through the day, leaving the S&P/TSX Composite Index down 25 points or 0.2% to 15,208. The TSX lost 120 points on Tuesday, snapping a 12-session winning streak. South of the border, the Dow Jones rose 170 points today while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were modestly higher.
On the TSX, the three main sectors were weaker, led by energy, which fell 1.2% on lower crude prices while financials lost 0.4% and materials were down -0.2%. Consumer discretionary shares led gainers, rising nearly 2%. Tech stocks were up 1%.
In stock news , heavily traded Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) edged down 0.5%, Royal Nickel (RNX.TO) dropped 6% while Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO) was down 2%. Aphria (APHA.TO) was off 2% after Green Growth Brands formally filed its unsolicited offer to buy the cannabis company for about $2.3 billion. Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) jumped 9% after reporting stronger same store sales and an executive shuffle.
In economic news, retail sales fell 0.9% in November after the 0.2% gain in October (revised from +0.3%). The ex-autos sales aggregate contracted 0.6% in November after 0.2% decline in October (revised from 0.0%). The total and ex-autos sales declines outpaced expectations and were driven by a 5.0% drop in gasoline station sales (due to lower prices) and a 1.8% loss at motor vehicle and parts dealers. Retail sales volumes fell 0.4% in November, joining the 0.9% decline in manufacturing sales volumes and a 1.2% fall in wholesale shipment volumes. Action Economics has maintained its projection for November GDP to decline 0.1% (m/m) after the 0.3% bounce in October. BoC Governor Poloz was interviewed on Bloomberg TV, but he said nothing new.
The Canadian dollar was little changed, up 5 basis points to 74.93 US.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
