Canadian Market Down In Negative Territory At Noon

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are down in negative territory around noon on Tuesday with somewhat hot inflation data weighing on sentiment. Uncertainty about early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve continues to weigh as well.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which dropped more than 200 points to 21,536.09 earlier in the morning, is down 59.52 points or 0.27% at 21,680.68 a few minutes before noon.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the annual inflation rate in Canada rose to 2.9% in March from the eight-month low of 2.8% in February. Consumer prices rose by 0.6% from the previous month in March.

Core inflation in Canada accelerated to 0.5% m-o-m in March, marking the highest reading in nearly a year and up from 0.1% in February of 2024. Annual core inflation rate in Canada slowed to 2% in March, the lowest level since March 2021, from 2.1% in February.

According to a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts in Canada fell by 7% over a month earlier to 242,195 units in March.

Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX.TO) is down 5.6% after the company reported a drop in gold and copper production.

Ero Copper (ERO.TO), B2Gold Corp (BTO.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Ssr Mining (SSRM.TO), Boralex (BLX.TO), Atco (ACO.Y.TO), Dayforce (DAY.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Manulife Financial (MFC.TO) and CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) are down 1 to 3%.

Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO) is gaining 4%. Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) and Intact Financial Corporation (IFC.TO) are gaining 1 to 1.7%.