Canadian Stocks Decline Amid Profit-Taking By Investors

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks declined on Thursday as investors resorted to profit-taking from yesterday's surge, with gains by commodity stocks offset by losses in the information technology sector.

After opening near yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gave ground to trade firmly negative throughout the session before closing at 29,868.59, down by 234.89 (or 0.78%).

Three of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the communication services sector leading the pack.

Data released by Ivey Business School today revealed that Canada's Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (an economic index which measures the month-to-month variation in economic activity) fell to 52.4 in October from 59.8 in September, missing expectations of 55.2.

Canada is suffering from the shocks of 35% tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on a majority of its exports to the U.S. with steel, aluminum, lumber and automobiles sectors being hit the hardest.

High-level officials talks between both nations had sought to arrive at a bilateral trade framework. However, things took a turn for the worse last week. Displeased by an Ontario-based advertisement mocking tariffs, Trump announced another 10% levy on Canada.

Aiming to cut down the reliance on U.S. for trade, Canada's Prime Minister Mark is looking to Europe and Asia with a target to double non-US exports over the next decade.

With the economy showing signs of slowdown, on Tuesday, Carney put forward his first budget which was presented by Canada's finance minister François-Philippe Champagne in the House of Commons.

While the fiscal plan increases the nation's deficit to $55.3 billion, the budget intends to lower the federal workforce by around 10% in the coming years, resulting in nearly 40,000 job losses in the federal government by 2029.

On October 29, the Bank of Canada cut interest rates to bring it to 2.25%.

On Wednesday, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem commented that the proposals in the federal budget to enhance the country's productivity will yield results only if they are executed well. Macklem also signaled that further interest rate cuts will likely be harder to justify.

In the U.S., the shutdown has entered day number 37 today.

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court commenced hearing a case challenging the legality of Trump's authority to impose tariffs. During the arguments, justices were skeptical of Trump's powers to formulate tariffs bypassing the Congress.

On the business front, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. reported a third-quarter profit of $600 million. On an adjusted basis, the company stated it earned 86 cents per diluted share from operations in its latest quarter. Revenue for the quarter totaled $9.52 billion, up from $8.89 billion.

The Calgary-based company, TC Energy missed estimates for third-quarter profit. Net income from the company's U.S. natural gas pipelines fell to $801-million in the third quarter. The company earned 77 Canadian cents per share for the three months compared with analysts' average expectation of 80 Canadian cents.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Consumer Staples (1.10%), Industrials (2.06%), Healthcare (3.68%), and IT (3.86%).

Among the individual stocks, Bitfarms Ltd (9.74%), Dye & Durham Ltd (6.76%), Open Text Corp (5.28%), Curaleaf Holdings Inc (14.21%), Mda Ltd (8.02%), Bird Construction Inc (6.37%) were the notable losers.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Communication Services (1.10%), Energy (0.43%), and Materials (0.35%).

Among the individual stocks, BCE Inc (3.45%), Quebecor Inc (2.71%), Vermillion Energy Inc (8.41%), Enerflex Ltd (6.00%), Lundin Mining Corp (7.98%), Equinox Gold Corp (7.76%), Lightspeed Commerce Inc (15.94%), and Torex Gold Resources Inc (5.61%) were the prominent gainers.