By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com – The TSX tracked Wall Street lower this morning, following a hotter than expected US producer price index report that renewed worries of underlying inflation, and lower than expected US new jobless claims, indicating resilience in the economy. Both pieces of data raised the case for a more Hawkish Fed.
Growth stocks including tech weighed on North American indices, with Shopify (TSX:SHOP) dragging the TSX tech subsector lower after disappointing results after the bell yesterday.
The commodity heavy Canadian index gained some support from crude prices, as bullish forecasts from the EIA tempered concerns of a supply glut after soaring US crude inventories and the planned release of stock from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The EIA expects oil demand to rise by 2 million barrels a day this year. More than half of the growth is expected to come from China as it reopens.
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Cenovus Energy Inc (TSX:CVE) (TSX:CVE) reported a Q4 profit of $784 million or 39 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a loss of $408 million or 21 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totaled $14.1 billion, up from $13.7 billion this time last year. Cenovus also announced that its currenct CEO Alex Pourbaix will become executive chair later this year, while COO Jon McKenzie will take over as the chief executive.
Canadian Tire Corp Ltd (TSX:CTCa) (TSX:CTCa)reported a Q4 profit of $531.9 million or $9.09 per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $508.5 million or $8.34 per diluted share this time a year earlier. Revenue totalled $5.34 billion, up from $5.14 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. While the retailer saw declines in demand for products such as home improvement and entertainment products, Canadian Tire’s company’s automotive business continued to offset the declining sectors.
MTY Food Group Inc(TSX:MTY) (TSX:MTY). reported a fourth-quarter profit of $7.1 million or 29 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Nov. 30. The result compared with a profit of $24.9 million or $1.00 per diluted share in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter totalled $242.0 million, up from $146.3 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue growth was driven largely by the franchiser’s acquisition of BBQ Holdings.
Riocan REIT (TSX:REI_u) (TSX:REI_u) posted a loss of $5 million for the quarter ended Dec 31, equating to a loss of two cents per share. The result compared with a profit of $208.8 million or 66 cents per unit this time last year. Revenue totalled $306.2 million, down from $336.4 million a year earlier. RioCan also announced a bump to its dividend to nine cents per unit, up from 8.5 cents.
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