Canadian Market Remains Weak Despite Coming Off Early Lows

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent fall to lower levels, the Canadian market recovered some lost ground Monday morning with select stocks finding modest support.

With a slew of central banks, including the Federal Reserve, scheduled to announce their monetary policy decisions, the mood is cautious.

The Fed widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to focus more closely on the central bank's accompanying statement and projections.

Reports on consumer and producer price inflation are also likely to attract attention in the coming days along with reports on retail sales and industrial production.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped to 20,209.28 after opening at 20,304.80, is down 45.74 points or 0.22% at 20,285.80 about half an hour before noon.

Among the losers, Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) is plunging more than 12%. Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) is tanking 9.5%.

West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) and Stantec (STN.TO) are down 1 to 3%.

ATS Corporation (ATS.TO), Molson Coors Canada Inc (TPX.B.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Cargojet Inc (CJT.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Intact Financial Corporation (IFC.TO) and TFI International (TFII.TO) are up 1 to 3%.

Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO) is gaining about 2.3%. The company announced today that it has agreed to reinsure $13 billion of reserves across four legacy/low ROE blocks, including $6 billion, or 14% of total long-term care (LTC) reserves, to Global Atlantic and its partners.