The Canadian market is experiencing a downturn after a lackluster start on Thursday, with notable declines in the energy, materials, and financial sectors due to selling pressure.
Weak commodity prices and investor concerns over the possibility that the Federal Reserve might only implement a single interest rate cut this year are driving the market sell-off.
As of recent, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index has fallen by 250.71 points, or 1.14%, standing at 21,710.84.
The Energy Capped Index has decreased by 2.28% with significant declines observed in Cenovus Energy (CVE.TO), Enerplus Corp (ERF.TO), Veren (VRN.TO), Paramount Resources (POU.TO), MEG Energy (MEG.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), International Petroleum Corp (IPCO.TO), Vermilion Energy (VET.TO), and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO), which are down by 2.5% to 4%.
The Materials Capped Index is down by nearly 1%. Key players such as MAG Silver Corp (MAG.TO), First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO), Methanex Corp (MX.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), CCL Industries (CCL.B.TO), and Lundin Gold (LUG.TO) have reported declines ranging from 1.6% to 2.7%.
The Financials Capped Index has dropped by 1.25%. Sun Life Financial (SLF.TO), Sprott Inc (SII.TO), EQB Inc (EQB.TO), Manulife Financial (MFL.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO), and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) have decreased by 1% to 2%.
Conversely, Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO) has risen by nearly 3%, Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) is up by 1.6%, and Cameco Corporation (CCO.TO) has increased by 1.5%. Companies like Cargojet (CJT.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO), and Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO) are also seeing notable gains.
In the wake of yesterday's lower-than-expected consumer price inflation data, a report from the U.S. Labor Department released this morning indicated a slight decline in producer prices for May.
Specifically, the producer price index for final demand fell by 0.2% in May, following a 0.5% increase in April. Economists had predicted a minor rise of 0.1%.
Furthermore, the annual growth rate of producer prices slowed to 2.2% in May, down from an upwardly revised 2.3% in April. This figure was contrary to economists' expectations, who had anticipated a rise to 2.5% from the initially reported 2.2% for the previous month.
