Indexes Retreat from Record Highs
Equities in Canada’s largest centre took a breather from the lofty heights to which they’d soared in recent days, as losses in gold and industrials weighed on the inex.
The TSX Composite Index faded 70.44 points to kick off Thursday at 28,362.56.
The Canadian dollar gathered 0.05 cents to 72.61 cents U.S.
TD Bank's bottom line was helped by lower cash reserves for bad loans, while CIBC benefited from robust performance in its capital markets division.
TD shares dipped $3.73, or 3.6%, to $101.28, while those for “The Commerce” gained 93 cents to $104.74.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported the number of employees receiving pay and benefits from their employer—measured as "payroll employment" in the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—decreased by 32,900 (-0.2%) in June, following an increase of 18,500 (+0.1%) in May. On a year-over-year basis, payroll employment was up 41,000 (+0.2%) in June.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange tacked on 2.21 points to 815.44.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups drooped, as gold, industrials and energy each gave back 0.5%.
Only tech stocks held out against the negative tide, taking on 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 backed off from recent heights on Thursday as traders pored over Nvidia’s earnings results and forecast. Investors largely looked at the numbers as affirming the AI boom.
The Dow Jones Industrials slid 72.33 points to begin Thursday at 45,502.90.
The broader index toppled 8.39 points to 6,473.01.
The NASDAQ sagged 11.24 points to 21,578.90.
The market is coming off a winning session Wednesday with the S&P 500 notching a record in anticipation of strong Nvidia results. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are each up more than 2% for August, while the 30-stock Dow is up more than 3% in the period.
Nvidia – which makes up about 8% of the S&P 500, per FactSet – reported second-quarter results that beat Wall Street’s estimates with booming revenue growth of 56%. There were a couple initial concerns: first, revenue for its data center business was a hair under estimates. Second, the company guided overall revenue for this quarter of $54 billion, only slightly above expectations of $53.1 billion of analysts polled by LSEG.
The stock initially saw declines but came back by the open.
It’s currently more than 1% lower. Many traders and analysts noted that the revenue guide does not assume any H20 chip sales to China. If a deal can be worked out involving China and the Trump administration on those sales, then revenue this quarter could be much better than forecast.
Other chipmakers that initially fell began recovering. Broadcom traded 2% higher, as did Micron Technology, signaling that many investors believe Nvidia’s results gave the greenlight for the AI trade to continue.
Prices for 10-year Treasury gained ground Thursday, weighing yields to 4.23% from Wednesday’s 4.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices decrease 58 cents to $63.57 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices surged $18.10 at $3,466.70 U.S. an ounce.
