Stock Losses Continue
The TSX Composite plummeted 177.47 points to move into Thursday afternoon at 20,811.95.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.32 cents to 74.43 cents U.S.
Shares of Canadian fashion company Aritzia soared $5.68, or 21.5%, to $32.14, making it the top gainer on the index, after its third-quarter results beat analysts' estimates. The stock outperformed the broader consumer discretionary sector, which dropped 0.9%.
In other company news, Interfor Corp slipped over $1.62, or 6.6%, to $22.90, after brokerage TD Securities downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy".
Investors are also awaiting results from major U.S. banks that will kick off the fourth-quarter earnings season on Friday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange faltered 7.15 points, or 1.3%, to 547.76.
All but one of the 12 subgroups were lower mid-day, health-care off 2.7%, utilities sliding 1.6%, and financials off 1.5%,
Only energy surged, and 0.9% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks moved lower Thursday, shrugging off a fresh round of inflation data that reflected an uptick in consumer prices for December.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 206.15 points to break for lunch Thursday at 37,489.58.
The S&P 500 sagged 34.4 points to 4,749.05.
The NASDAQ gave back 133.43 points to 14,836.22.
Investors are also eyeing the kickoff of the fourth-quarter earnings season, which will see banking behemoths Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase report results Friday.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin ETFs rose on their first day of trading on Thursday as crypto prices also edged up. Bitcoin briefly hit the $49,000 mark earlier Thursday before falling to just above $46,000.
December’s consumer price index report came out slightly higher-than-expected, reflecting a 0.3% increase in consumer prices for the month, pushing the annual rate to 3.4%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had predicted that the CPI rose 0.2% in December and 3.2% on a year-over-year basis.
Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, came out in line with expectations, however, pointing to persistent—yet easing—inflation pressures. The data released on Thursday suggests that future interest rate cuts may be slower to come.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were static, keeping yields at Wednesday’s 4.04%.
Oil prices rumbled ahead $1.65 to $73.02 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $7.30 to $2,020.50.
Provided Content: Content provided by Baystreet. The Globe and Mail was not involved, and material was not reviewed prior to publication.
