Canada’s main stock index touched near two-week lows on Tuesday as financials fell following Bank of Nova Scotia’s profit miss, while First Quantum Minerals slumped after a Panama court ruled its copper mine contract in the country as unconstitutional.
At 9:48 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index was down 36.08 points, or 0.18%, at 19,996.58.
Bank of Nova Scotia fell 3.5% after the lender missed fourth-quarter profit estimates, while the broader financials sector lost 1.2%.
“We’ve delayed a recession or a material slowdown this year really on the backs of a healthier consumer that has been leveraging their high savings rates going into the year and also low credit card balances,” said Macan Nia, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investment Management.
“Now (that) those things have been used up, we’re looking to bank earnings to see specifically anything credit related to see the health of the Canadian consumer because many believe, ourselves included, that will give us a good see-through in terms of what to expect moving forward,” Nia added.
First Quantum Minerals shed 3.5% after Panama’s Supreme Court ruled the miner’s contract to operate a lucrative copper mine in the Central American nation is unconstitutional.
Technology stocks declined 0.5% as Shopify slipped 1.4% after Piper Sandler downgraded the e-commerce company’s stock to “underweight”.
Helping limit losses, energy stocks added 0.8% as crude oil prices rose around 1%.
Despite recent weakness, the benchmark index is eyeing sharp monthly gains as hopes grow that global interest rates have peaked.
Investors are looking for domestic economic data scheduled for later in the week - the third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) report and November employment numbers.
Also on the investor radar this week would be the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) report - considered the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge.
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