TSX falls as inflation data fuels aggressive rate hike bets

Canada’s main stock index slipped on Wednesday as inflation data fuelled bets of a more aggressive interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada, while a dip in precious metals prices hurt shares of miners.

At 10:04 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 104.38 points, or 0.56%, at 18,693.8 and was set to snap a two-day rally.

Canada’s annual inflation rate eased slightly to 6.9% in September, but was still above economists’ forecasts of 6.8%, amping up calls for the central bank to go bigger at its rate decision next week.

The Bank of Canada was earlier seen slowing down its pace of tightening at its next meeting and raising rates by 50 basis points. However, traders’ bets of a 75-basis-point rate hike at the bank’s Oct. 26 meeting rose significantly after the data and last stood at 67.3%.

U.S. stocks also fell as a recent rally sparked by solid earnings reports fizzled out with investor focus turning to inflation and aggressive central bank actions to quell it.

Red-hot inflation data from the UK on Wednesday did little to ease those concerns.

“There is some stickiness to the prices and not yet any proof of clear and convincing evidence that inflation is moving lower,” said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones Investments.

“These days, it is (all about) inflation and central bank actions so probably patience is required until there are some clear signs that (the) banks are slowing their pace of tightening which today’s data does not support.”

As prices of gold and some other precious metals dropped with a stronger dollar and a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, the materials sector, which includes miners fell 1.0%. Healthcare and technology stocks led declines on the TSX, falling 1.7% and 1.5% respectively. Energy, the only outlier on the TSX, rose 0.9%, boosted by an uptick in crude prices.

Parkland Corp fell 12.7% to the bottom of the TSX after the food and convenience retailer said it expected third-quarter results to fall below its expectations given a tough macro environment.