Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index fell for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, hurt by commodity-linked stocks, as investors adopted a cautious stance ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision.
The TSX broke for lunch Wednesday sagged 50.85 points to 25,068.86.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.06 cents to 69.82 cents U.S.
In corporate news, lithium miner Patriot Battery Metals (TSX:PMET) secured a $69-million investment from automotive giant Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) for a 9.9% stake. Shares trading under the symbol “PMET” galloped 76 cents, or 28.7%, to $3.41.
Nuvista Energy fell 27 cents, or 3%, to $13.21, after the oil and natural gas firm said that it temporarily curtailed production in the greater Wapiti area due to unscheduled maintenance at a third-party gas plant.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nicked ahead 1.01 points to 598.26
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, weighed most by gold, down 0.8%, materials, off 0.6%, while communications went south 0.4%.
The three gainers were industrials, up 0.4%, and energy, better by 0.1%, and real-estate, slightly above breakeven.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped on Wednesday as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s December interest rate decision.
The 30-stock index grabbed 159.03 points to 43,608.93. If the Dow were to fall for a 10th day on Wednesday, it would be its worst losing streak since an 11-day slide in 1974.
The S&P 500 index recovered 14.22 points to 6,064.83
The NASDAQ regained 42.09 points to 20,151,15
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), which fell into correction territory earlier this week, was bouncing in trading Wednesday, up nearly 3%. Nvidia entered the Dow last month. Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), the chip stock seeing big inflows this month as investors dumped Nvidia, was lower in early trading Wednesday.
The Dow’s worst funk in 46 years was mostly caused by a rotation out of old economy shares and into technology stocks, a sector that the century-old measure underweights compared to broader market metrics. Despite the streak, the Dow sits less than 4% from an-all time high.
Other measures of the market are holding up this month, with the S&P 500 in the green for December and sitting about 1% from an all-time high. The Nasdaq is up 4.6% this month as investors flooded into to tech shares, while shunning the Dow.
The Fed’s policy decision is due at 2:00 p.m. ET. Fed funds futures trading currently shows a 95% chance that the central bank will cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury stayed put, keeping yields at Tuesday’s 4.40%.
Oil prices regained $1.17 to $71.26 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold dwindled $7.80 an ounce to $2,654.20 U.S.