Canada’s main stock index opened higher on Monday, lifted by mining stocks, while investors awaited the Bank of Canada’s policy decision later in the week that is expected to result in a large interest rate cut.
The TSX climbed 89.08 points to begin the week at 25,780.88.
The Canadian dollar regrouped 0.16 cents to 70.83 cents U.S.
The Bank of Canada is expected to cut the interest rate by half a percentage point on Wednesday, marking its second consecutive rate cut of such magnitude.
Bets for a hefty cut jumped after Friday’s data showed a sharp rise in the unemployment rate, with nearly 80% of respondents in a Reuters poll predicting a 50-bps cut on Dec. 11 to 3.25%.
In corporate news, Swedish mining group Boliden agreed to buy Lundin Mining’s Neves-Corvo mine in Portugal and the Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden. Lundin Mining gained 35 cents, or 2.5%, to $14.09.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 6.95 points, or 1.1%, to 617.17.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were higher mid-morning, with gold up 4.1%, materials ahead 3.9%, and energy better by 1.6%.
The four laggards were led by information technology, down 1.3%, while financials lost 0.2%, and utilities doffed 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite pulled back from record highs Monday, with tech shares struggling and investors looking ahead to key inflation data due out this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial index lost 107.56 points Monday to 44,534.96
The much-broader index dipped 34.92 points to 6,055.35
The NASDAQ Composite plunged 161.39 points to 19,609.39.
Nvidia shares dropped more than 2% on the heels of a Chinese regulator announcing that it’s investigating the AI chip darling for potentially violating the country’s antimonopoly law. The stock has been a bellwether for the artificial intelligence trade, up about 180% in 2024.
Advanced Micro Devices, another chipmaker, was also under pressure after Bank of America downgraded the stock to neutral from buy, with the bank citing its limited market share gain potential as a result of “higher competitive risks in AI against best-of-breed NVDA’s dominance.”
Other tech stocks like Tesla, Meta and Netflix also struggled, falling around 2%, more than 2% and around 3%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin retreated as well, a sign that investors are moving away from risk-taking. The cryptocurrency topped $100,000 for the first time ever on Wednesday evening last week.
The moves come after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at fresh records Friday, rising 1% and 3.3% for the week, respectively. The Dow was the lone laggard, closing the week down 0.6%.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury lagged, raising yields to 4.19% from Friday’s 4.15%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices hiked $1.37 to $68.57 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold jumped $31.60 an ounce to $2,691.20 U.S.
