Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, taking cues from Wall Street peers, as cautious investors awaited leading chipmaker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)'s quarterly earnings due later in the day.
The TSX lost 49.19 points to reach noon EST Wednesday at 24,961.58.
The Canadian dollar lost 0.21 cents to 71.45 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Fairfax Financial (TSX:FFH) announced it intends to offer $450 million in senior notes due 2034 and $250 million in senior notes due 2054. Shares in Fairfax gained $16.40 to $1,939.13.
The top gainers on the TSX index so far are International Petroleum (TSX:IPCO) up 54 cents, or 3.7% to $15.18, Vermilion Energy (TSX:VET), up 16 cents, or 1.1%, to $14.31, and Baytex Energy (TSX:BTE), up five cents, or 1.2%, to $4.18.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 0.71 points to 598.52.
Eight of the 12 subgroups were lower, weighed most by consumer discretionary stocks, off 1%, while consumer staples gave way 0.6%, and industrials lost 0.4%.
The three gainers were materials, up 0.5%, energy, ahead 0.4%, and gold, better by 0.3%. Health-care stocks were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Wednesday, with Nvidia shares sliding more than 1% ahead of its highly-anticipated earnings report. Investors also assessed disappointing results from Target (NYSE:TGT)
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 66.74 points to 43,202.20.
The S&P 500 stumbled 26.44 points to 5,890.54.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ dropped 112.81 points to 18,874.72.
All eyes are on AI darling Nvidia. The results could hold more significance than some key economic reports, given the chipmaker’s $3.6-trillion market capitalization, and set the tone for the market for the rest of the week. Investors will search for details on demand for its Blackwell AI chips, which CEO Jensen Huang last month characterized as “insane.”
Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) were down marginally, while discount retailers Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR), Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) declined more than 3% each. Home Depot (NYSE:HD) dipped 1%.
In other news, retailer Target slumped 20% after posting its biggest earnings miss in two years and cutting its full-year guidance due to softening discretionary demand and cost pressures.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained ground, raising yields back to Tuesday’s 4.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained a penny to $69.40 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold took on $23.40 an ounce to $2,654.300 U.S.