By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At 1:25 p.m in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite was at 18,997.04 points, down -0.37% in the day’s trading.
The Canadian index opened on a positive note this morning on better-than-expected domestic retail sales data but retraced the morning gains to track U.S. equities lower after disappointing results from Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP). and Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).
Worse-than-expected results from the social media giants weighed on tech and sounded a dismal note on the economy as both companies reported lowered outlook for advertising revenue as spending dries up in the context of a slowing economy.
Rate-sensitive healthcare was also amongst the worst performing sectors on the TSX today, further pressured by profit-taking in pot stocks after a red hot-rally this week in anticipation of The Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. However, no set timeline or next steps have been announced on the legislation, or whether it will be brought up for further consideration to the Senate, where the bill is unlikely to pass.
The heavyweight energy sector further weighed on the TSX today, as Crude reversed the morning’s gains to trade modestly lower at midday and set for its third consecutive week of losses on worries of recession-driven demand destruction, and easing supply concerns on the resumption of Libyan output and spare capacity from Iraq.
Libya's oil production is at more than 800,000 barrels per day and will reach 1.2 million bpd by next month, the Libyan oil ministry said. Iraq meanwhile says it has the capacity to increase its oil production by 200,000 bpd.
Rate-sensitive tech and healthcare stocks were amongst the biggest losers on the TSX today, including Shopify (TSX:SHOP) (-8.65%), Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) (-8.38%), Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) (-7.84%), Cronos Group Inc (TSX:CRON) (-6.89%), and Tilray (TSX:TLRY) (-6.24%).
Today’s top gainers include Mullen Group (TSX:MTL) (+6.25%), Boardwalk REIT (TSX:BEI_u) (-3.30%), Spin Master Corp (TSX:TOY) (+3.25%), K92 Mining (TSX:KNT) (+2.74%), and Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (TSX:CAR_u) (+2.70%).