Canadian Market Down Marginally At Noon

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down marginally around noon on Wednesday with investors reacting to quarterly earnings updates and looking ahead to crucial economic data from the U.S. and Canada for more clues about the outlook for interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 5.95 points or 0.03% at 21,312.93 a few minutes past noon.

National Bank of Canada (NA.TO) is gaining 3.25%. The bank reported first-quarter net income of $922 million, up 5% from $876 million in the first quarter of 2023. First-quarter diluted earnings per share stood at $2.59 compared to $2.47 in the first quarter of 2023.

Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) is up 0.6%. The bank reported net income of $3.6 billion for the quarter ended January 31, 2024, up $449 million or 14% from the prior year. Adjusted net income was $4.1 billion in the first quarter, down 5% from a year ago.

Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) is up 3.5%, and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) is advancing nearly 2%. Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Onex Corp (ONEX.TO) and CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO) are modestly higher.

George Weston Ltd (WN.TO) reported adjusted net earnings of $342 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, down $27 million or 7.3% from the year-ago quarter. The stock is down marginally.

MDA Ltd. (MDA.TO) is gaining 2% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of C$13.5 million, up from C$8.8 million in the year-ago quarter. The company expects revenue of C$205 million to C$215 million in the first quarter of the current year.

ATS Corporation (ATS.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), Boyd Group (BYD.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) and WSP Global (WSP.TO) are up with sharp to moderate gains.

Parkland Corporation (PKI.TO) is down more than 7%. Stelco Holdings (STLC.TO), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.TO), Badger Infrastructure (BDGI.TO), Russel Metals (RUS.TO), Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Cogeco Communications (CCA.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) are down 1 to 2%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed the nation's seasonally adjusted current account deficit narrowed to C$ 1.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the upwardly revised gap of C$ 4.74 billion in the previous period.

A separate data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose by 3.8% year-on-year to $1,212 in December 2023, slowing from a revised 3.9% growth in the previous month.