Baystreet.ca - It was a rough day on markets throughout North America, as investors shook off the reality of sizable interest cuts by the Bank of Canada and inflation reports south of the border.
The TSX dumped 246.99 points, or 1%, to close Thursday at 25,410.71
The Canadian dollar erased 0.36 cents to 70.31 cents U.S.
The central bank slashed its policy rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday to help boost the country's slower economic growth.
However, Governor Tiff Macklem emphasized further reductions would be more gradual and warned that potential new tariffs under U.S. President-elect Donald Trump represented "a major new uncertainty."
Gold fell flat, weighed most by Equinox Gold (TSX:EQX), off 82 cents, or 9%, to $8.25, while New Gold (TSX:NGD) sank 30 cents, or 6.9%, to $4.08.
Among materials, First Majestic Silver (TSX:AG) slumped 66 cents, or 9%, to $8.80, while SSR Mining (TSX:SSRM) docked 61 cents, or 5.3%, to $10.91. Non-paper containers & packaging firm Transcontinental (TSX:TCLa) missed fourth-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday. Transcontinental shares gained 47 cents, or 2.7%, to $18.00.
Imperial Oil (TSX:IMO) fell $6.73, or 6.5%, to $97.26 following its forecast of higher crude production in 2025, as the Canadian energy major expects to ramp up output from existing oil sands assets. Elsewhere in energy, Peyto Exploration (TSX:PEY) shed 41 cents, or 2.4%, to $16.36.
Among consumer staples, Empire Company (TSX:EMPa) jumped $2.54, or 5.9% to $45.57 after the food and retail distribution company surpassed estimates for second-quarter profit. George Weston (TSX:WN) acquired $2.25, or 1%, to $238.00
Real-estate also did what it could, as Granite REIT (TSX:GRT_u) picked up 50 cents to $73.30, while units of Dream Industrial REIT (TSX:DIR_u) increased eight cents to $12.21.
In economic news, building permits decreased by $399.1 million (-3.1%) to $12.6 billion in October.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 4.72 points to 611.88.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground Thursday, weighed most by gold and materials, each down 2.4%, and energy, off 1.5%
Consumer staples eked 0.1%, while real-estate stocks crawled ahead 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Thursday, weighed down by a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report, as tech shares failed to keep the momentum seen earlier in the week.
The Dow Jones Industrial index retreated 234.44 points Thursday to 43,914.12. It was the 30-stock index’s sixth straight losing day.
The S&P 500 index dipped 32.94 points to 6,051.25
The tech-heavy NASDAQ let go of 132.05 points to 19,902.84.
Tech names were among the notable decliners, with Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) losing more than 1%. Software (ETR:SOWGn) giant Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) declined more than 13% following the company’s weaker-than-expected 2025 outlook. Meta (NASDAQ:META) Platforms, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) ended the session lower as well.
The producer price index, which tracks wholesale prices, increased 0.4% last month. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a 0.2% increase on a monthly basis.
This follows November’s consumer price index report, which came in line with economists’ estimates and has prompted investors to anticipate another rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its policy meeting next week.
Fed funds futures trading data reflects a 98% likelihood that central bank policymakers will lower rates next week.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury shrank, raising yields to 4.33% from Wednesday’s 4.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices descended 17 cents to $70.12 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold settled $52.60 an ounce to $2,704.10 U.S.