The Canadian market witnessed a moderate decline on Wednesday as investors assessed earnings updates and awaited forthcoming Canadian GDP and manufacturing activity data. The leading S&P/TSX Composite Index, despite opening weaker and briefly surpassing the initial level around midday, again retreated and finally closed the day at 21,243.77, a decrease of 75.13 points, or 0.35%.
The National Bank of Canada saw its shares rise by 2.3%. The bank disclosed its first-quarter net income to be $922 million, a surge of 5% from $876 million during the same period in 2023. It's first-quarter diluted earnings per share were $2.59, compared to $2.47 in the first quarter of 2023.
The Royal Bank of Canada reported a net income of $3.6 billion for the quarter ending January 31, 2024 - a $449 million, or 14%, increment from the previous year. The adjusted net income was $4.1 billion in the first quarter, a decrease of 5% from a year ago, while the stock edged down slightly.
George Weston Ltd reported adjusted net earnings of $342 million for the fourth quarter of 2023, down $27 million or 7.3% from the equivalent quarter of the previous year. The stock declined by 1.44%.
MDA Ltd reported a boost in the fourth-quarter earnings to C$13.5 million, up from C$8.8 million during the same period in the previous year. The company is anticipating revenue in the range of C$205 million to C$215 million for the first quarter of the current year, leading to about a 0.6% gain.
Parkland Corporation witnessed more than a 6% decline. Other stocks such as Stelco Holdings, Sprott Inc, Cargojet, Russel Metals, and goeasy lost between 2 to 4%.
Stella-Jones, West Fraser Timber, Boyd Group Companies, Kinaxis Inc, Restaurant Brands International, and Fairfax Financial Holdings experienced gains between 1.6 to 2%.
The latest data from Statistics Canada reveals that the seasonal adjustment narrowed the country's current account deficit to C$1.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, down from the revised gap of C$4.74 billion in the previous period.
Separate data from Statistics Canada highlights that average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada rose by 3.8% year-on-year to $1,212 in December 2023, a slight dip compared to a revised 3.9% growth in the preceding month.
