Streak Ends with a Thud

Stocks in Toronto took a breather from their dizzy heights on Tuesday, as health-care and tech issues placed an anchor on the recent torrid run of gains.

The TSX Composite ended its near-two-week winning streak, sliding 111.39 points to conclude Tuesday at 21,173.45.

The Canadian dollar sank 0.05 cents to 80.72 cents U.S.

As mentioned, health-care took the brunt of investor anger Tuesday, with Canopy Growth shedding 53 cents, or 3.2%, to $16.29, while Tilray lost 39 cents, or 2.9%, to $13.27/

Tech concerns also took a hit, as Sierra Wireless slid 82 cents, or 4%, to $19.83, while Shopify was bruised $68.16, or 3.9%, to $1,697.69.

In the consumer discretionary arena, BRP Inc. dropped $9.41, or 8.1%, to $107.21, while Canadian Tire was flattened $3.57, or 2%, to $179.50.

Financials tried to brighten things up a bit, as Home Capital Group jumped $!.62, or 4.1%, to $41.18, while Laurentian Bank tacked on 94 cents, or 2.3%, to $41.93.

Communications also looked up, as Cogeco Communications perked 44 cents to $107.51, while BCE gained 21 cents to $63.38.

In the utilities subsector, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners unit roared ahead $!.26, or 1.8%, to $73.24, while Fortis took on 21 cents to $55.34.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who fell short of a majority in last month's election, will introduce a Cabinet on Tuesday.

All eyes will be on the Bank of Canada's meeting Wednesday morning. Economists see the central bank raising rates as early as the third quarter of next year, at least three months earlier than previously expected.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 5.17 points, to 958.76

Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were down on the day, with health-care floundering 1.8%, while information technology tumbled 1.5% and consumer discretionary stocks were 1% to the bad.

The five gainers were led by financials better by 0.5%, while industrials gained 0.3% and communications added 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks climbed to record levels on Tuesday as major corporations continued to turn in solid quarterly results, but major averages closed off their highs of the day with some major tech names rolling over.

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The Dow Jones Industrials stayed just north of breakeven 15.73 points to 35,756.88, still, another all-time record.

The S&P 500 acquired 8.31 points to 4,581.83, for yet another record high.

The NASDAQ Composite nicked higher 9.01 points to 15.235.71.

An intraday reversal in shares of Facebook weighed on major averages at midday. After trading flat to higher to start the session, Facebook shares dropped more than 5% at session low and closed 3.9% lower. The company topped analysts’ earnings expectations but missed estimates for revenue and monthly active users.

Tesla erased earlier gains and fell 0.6% Tuesday after the electric vehicle company soared more than 12% in the previous session to reach a $1 trillion market cap for the first time.

United Parcel Service saw its shares jump 6.9% after the shipping firm posted strong beats on profit and revenue across all business segments. Dow component 3M dipped 0.1% despite beating earnings on the top and bottom lines.

General Electric rose 2% after the company issued an upward revision to its full-year earnings forecast while reporting higher than expected third-quarter profit.

Nearly 30% S&P 500 companied have reported earnings and more than 80% of them beat Wall Street expectations, according to media calculations. S&P 500 companies are expected to grow profit by about 35.6% in the third

Technology darlings Alphabet and Microsoft traded higher heading into their earnings reports after the bell Tuesday. Microsoft bulls are expecting a strong quarter for the tech giant, bolstered by its key Azure business. Analysts are expecting Alphabet earnings to come in 43% higher year over year.

Twitter, Advanced Micro Devices and Robinhood also report quarterly earnings after the bell on Tuesday.

On the data front, U.S. consumer confidence rose in October, reversing a three-month downward trend, according to the Conference Board. Its consumer confidence index climbed to a reading of 113.8, topping a Dow Jones expectation of 108 and up from 109.8 in September.

Prices for 10-year Treasurys were slightly higher, lowering yields to 1.61% from Monday’s 1.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices strengthened 89 cents to $84.65 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices slid $11.60 to $1,795.20 U.S. an ounce.