Stocks Start out Downward

Equities in Toronto declined at the open on Wednesday as miners and oil companies tracked commodity prices lower on growing bets of U.S. interest rate hikes.

The TSX fell 54.26 points to begin the mid-week session at 20,630.42.

The Canadian dollar dropped 0.22 cents to 74.43 cents U.S.

In company news, Glencore has told Teck Resources shareholders it is willing to improve its $22.5-billion takeover offer, raising the pressure on the Canadian miner to ditch a restructuring plan and sit down at the negotiating table. Teck shares gained 12 cents to $64.56.

Suncor Energy reported the release of 5,900 cubic metres (208,400 cubic feet) of water with more than twice the approved level of suspended solids from a sedimentation pond at its Fort Hills oil sands project in northern Alberta. Shares in Suncor set 87 cents, or 2.1%, to $41.54.

Jefferies downgraded drug developer Bellus Health to "hold" from "buy", while RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to "sector perform" from "outperform." Bellus shares tailed off three cents from Tuesday’s lofty perch to $19.36.

On the economic calendar, the Raw Materials Price Index decreased 1.7% on a monthly basis in March and was down 16.5% year over year.

The Industrial Product Price Index edged up 0.1% in March from the previous month and fell 1.8% year over year.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said housing starts in Canada slipped by 11% over a month earlier to 213,865 units in March 2023, undershooting market expectations of 227,800 units.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange slid 5.81 points to 624.68.

All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with materials, gold and energy each descending 1%.

The three gainers were consumer staples, up 0.3%, while utilities and industrials each nicked up 0.1%.

ON WALLSTREET

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The S&P 500 fell for the first day in three as companies including Netflix and Morgan Stanley declined after posting first-quarter results.

The Dow Jones Industrials caved 105.41 points to 33,871.22,

The benchmark index faded 15.18 points to 4,139.69.

The NASDAQ dropped 66.42 points to 12,086.99.

While many of the companies reporting in the last 24 hours topped analysts’ low-bar estimates, traders found something wrong within the results to send the stocks lower. A lack of forecasts from the major companies also left investors on edge with the Federal Reserve set to raise interest rates again in a couple weeks and recession fears swirling.

Netflix shares fell 3% as the streaming giant disappointed investors by pushing back plans to strictly clamp down on password sharing. In its latest quarter, Netflix beat analysts’ expectations on earnings per share, and added more subscribers than expected, but fell short of revenue expectations.

Earnings reports from major banking institutions wrapped up with Morgan Stanley. Shares fell 1% despite seemingly strong results as margins for its investment banking, wealth and asset management businesses were weaker than expected, according to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo. He noted that normalizing Morgan Stanley’s tax rate would show weaker-than-expected earnings for the quarter.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury weakened, lifting yields to 3.61% from Tuesday’s 3.58%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices ditched $2.21 to $78.65 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices wilted $15.60 to $2,004.10 U.S. an ounce.