Stocks in Toronto opened lower on Tuesday as investors adopted a cautious tone ahead of key U.S. inflation data due this week, which could influence expectations from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Sept. 18.
The TSX Composite Index let go of much of Monday’s gains, starting Tuesday down 157.11 points, to 22,870.04.
The Canadian dollar stepped back 0.2 at 73.51 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Fission Uranium’s shareholders voted in favor of Paladin Energy’s proposed acquisition of the Canadian resource company, the Australian miner said. Fission shares galloped seven cents, or 9%, to 85 cents to kick off Tuesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of nine points to 548.87.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were weaker, with energy sliding 2.7%, consumer discretionary stocks falling 1.1%, and communications were off 0.6%.
Utilities squeaked higher 0.03%, while gold shares were unchanged.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 edged higher on Tuesday, along with the NASDAQ Composite, as investors scooped up tech shares following a recent dip and investors tried to regain their footing after a tough September start.
The Dow Jones Industrial index stumbled 214.21 points to commence Tuesday trading at 40,615.38.
The much-broader index eked up 5.9 points to 5,476.95.
The NASDAQ climbed 79.85 points, or 1.2%, to 16,964.45
Nvidia and Amazon gained 0.6% and 2.4%, respectively. Microsoft shares added 2.4%. Cloud platform company Oracle surged 10% after posting fiscal first-quarter results that topped expectations and announcing a partnership with Amazon Web Services to provide database services.
Investors are also betting that a widely anticipated interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 17-18 meeting could help assuage concerns over a weakening economy.
Traders have their eyes on two key economic reports that will likely be the next catalysts for stocks. The consumer price index report for August is due out Wednesday, followed by the producer price index on Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained, lowering yields to 3.69% from Monday’s 3.71%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices took on $2.40 to $66.31 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $1.80 to $2,534.50.
