Canadian stocks are experiencing mixed results on Tuesday as investors process the latest inflation data and anticipate Wednesday's monetary policy announcement from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
According to Statistics Canada, the annual inflation rate in the country declined for the third consecutive month, landing at 2% in August 2024. This represents the softest rate since February 2021 and falls slightly below the anticipated 2.1%.
The Canadian Consumer Price Index (CPI) dipped by 0.2% month-over-month in August 2024, while forecasts had expected it to remain unchanged, following a 0.4% rise in the previous month.
Core consumer prices in Canada saw a 1.5% increase in August 2024 compared to the same month the previous year, down from 1.7% in July.
A report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation revealed that housing starts in Canada dropped by 22.3% month-over-month to 217,405 units in August 2024, marking the lowest level since November 2023.
Energy and healthcare stocks are seeing some support, whereas consumer staples and industrial shares are showing signs of weakness.
The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which had reached a new high of 23,800.59 earlier in the session, is currently down 26.72 points or 0.11% to 23,675.35 approximately half an hour past noon.
Notable gainers include Telesat Corporation (TSAT.TO), which is up more than 10%, Calian Group (CGY.TO) and ATS Corporation (ATS.TO), rising by 4.6% and 4.2% respectively. Other stocks such as Magna International (MG.TO), Bombardier Inc. (BBD.B.TO), Celestica Inc. (CLS.TO), Molson Coors Canada Inc. (TPX.B.TO), Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), Premium Brands Holdings (PBH.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) are up between 1% to 3%.
Conversely, stocks like Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO), Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Dollarama Inc. (DOL.TO), CGI Inc. (GIB.A.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), George Weston (WN.TO), Kinaxis Inc. (KXS.TO), and Stella-Jones (SJ.TO) are down between 1% to 2.5%.
