TSX Points Downward

Stocks in Canada’s largest centre forfeited ground on Wednesday, pressured by a selloff in energy and materials shares tracking lower commodity prices, while investors awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting to gauge the outlook on global interest rates

The TSX stumbled 71.96 points to pause for lunch Wednesday at 22,396.20.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.2 cents at 73.16 cents U.S.

Among individual stocks, copper miner Hudbay Minerals dropped $1.14, or 8.1%, to $13.01m on plans to raise $300.2 million in an equity offering to help fund near-term growth initiatives at its Copper Mountain unit, among other purposes.

Shopify added $2.43, or 3.1%, to $80.28 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the e-commerce company's stock to 'buy', as per thefly.com, which pushed the information technology sector higher.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange slid 9.51 points, or 1.5%, to 611.01.

Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower early afternoon, with gold down 2.4%, materials backpedaling 2.2%, and energy off 1.2%.

The five gainers were led by information technology, ahead 1.4%, utilities, better by 0.3%, and industrials, inching up 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. stocks traded near the flatline Wednesday as investors looked ahead to the widely-anticipated release of Nvidia’s latest earnings report.

The Dow Jones Industrials gave up 58.5 points to approach noon EDT Wednesday at 39,814.49.

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The S&P 500 hesitated 2.55 points to 5,318.86.

The NASDAQ gained 9.12 points to 16,841.75.

Target shares fell more than 7% on weaker-than-expected earnings, with management citing weaker spending trends in discretionary categories. The retailer’s troubles raised broader concerns about the health of the consumer.

Nvidia shares pulled back 0.7% Wednesday ahead of its quarterly earnings results after the bell. Analysts are expecting another strong quarter from the chipmaker. LSEG data shows consensus estimates call for earnings per share and revenue to have risen 400% and 240% year on year.

Existing home sales unexpectedly fell in April, indicating a potential cooldown in the housing market. Economists polled by Dow Jones had expected home sales to rise during the month.

Traders will also watch out for minutes from the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury slipped a bit, raising yields to 4.42% from Tuesday’s 4.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices 95 cents to $77.71 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dipped $30.00 to $2,392.40.