(Toronto) The Toronto Stock Exchange’s flagship index retreated more than 150 points on Thursday, dragged down by losses in the energy and telecommunications sectors, while the major American indices ended the day in scattered order .
The composite index S
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrials Average fell 35.27 points to 32,764.65 points, while the broader S
Continued uncertainty over the US debt ceiling remains in the picture as talks continue, weighing further on markets when there wasn’t much other news to sway investors, observed Mike Archibald, vice-president and portfolio manager at AGF Investments. But on Thursday, the debt ceiling talks had less of a direct impact, he said.
“Today there’s a whole host of other things that I think are getting investors’ attention,” Archibald noted.
The biggest talking point in the US on Thursday was Nvidia, the analyst continued. The company saw its stock jump more than 24% the day after it reported better-than-expected earnings results. The computer chip maker also forecast a surge in revenue.
“Nvidia’s numbers…were so much higher than expected that they really surprised a lot of people,” Archibald explained.
Thursday’s NASDAQ rally was part of a recurring theme this year, Mr. Archibald continued, in which big tech stocks — especially those exposed to artificial intelligence — recouped their losses from last year and outperformed the market as a whole.
“If you haven’t been in big-cap tech, it’s been a really tough year,” he said.
North of the border, the quarterly results of four of the five major Canadian banks disappointed analysts’ expectations this week. Only CIBC did better than expected. Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC and TD Bank all released their latest results Thursday.
Royal and TD saw their shares decline, while those of Scotia and Bank of Montreal advanced, recouping losses recorded on Wednesday after the publication of their results. CIBC’s stock rose.
As a result, the Toronto trading floor’s financials sector retreated just 0.6%, while larger losses in other sectors, including energy, weighed on the benchmark.
Mr. Archibald pointed to higher expenses and provisions for bad debts as the reason for the bank results.
“It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there’s a slowdown here,” he said.
The price of oil has given back some of its recent gains, but remained in the range it has held for some time, Archibald noted.
On the New York Commodities Exchange, crude oil fell US$2.51 to US$71.83 a barrel, while natural gas returned US9 cents to US$2.48 a million. of BTUs.
The price of gold cleared US$20.90 to US$1943.70 per ounce and that of copper rose 3 US cents to US$3.59 per pound.
In the currency market, the Canadian dollar traded at an average rate of 73.38 US cents, down from 73.63 US cents on Wednesday.
