Canadian Stocks Down Sharply On Interest Rate Outlook

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down sharply on Wednesday with stocks from across several sectors reeling under a severe bout of selling pressure amid fading hopes of early rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Adding to worries the Fed will hold off on cutting rates, the Commerce Department's report showed U.S. retail sales increased by more than expected in the month of December.

Weak crude oil and gold prices are hurting as well. Technology stocks are down as treasury yields are rising.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 316.43 points or 1.51% at 20,631.66 a few minutes before noon.

Information Technology, Materials and Health Care indexes are down 2 to 2.14%. The Real Estate Index is down 1.6%, the Utilities index is declining 1.4% and the Energy Capped Index is down by about 1.25%.

Among technology stocks Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) is down 4.2%. Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO), Bitfarms (BITF.TO) and Dye & Durham (DND.TO) are down 2.2 to 2.8%. BlackBerry (BB.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and Constellation Software (CSU.TO) are also down sharply.

Materials shares First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Pan American Silver Corp (PASS.TO) and First Majestic Silver Corp (FR.TO) are down 7.2%, 6.3% and 6%, respectively. Orla Mining (OLA.TO), Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO), MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), Canfor Corp (CFP.TO) and West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) are lower by 4 to 4.4%.

In the energy sector, Imperial Oil (IMO.TO) is down 3.6%, while Arc Resources (ARX.TO) and Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) are down 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO), Whitecap Resources (WCP.TO) and Paramount Resources (POU.TO) are also down sharply.

Data from Statistics Canada showed Industrial producer prices in Canada fell by 1.5% over a month in December of 2023, following a revised 0.3% decline in November. On yearly basis, producer prices dropped by 2.7% in December, after a revised 2% decrease in November.

The Raw Materials Price Index in Canada fell by 4.9% month-over-month in December, matching the upwardly revised 4.9% decline in November. Year-on-year, raw materials prices plummeted by 7.9% in December, following an upwardly revised 5.4% fall in November.