Futures linked to Canada’s main stock index tumbled on Thursday, pulled down by declines in oil and metal prices, while investors assessed the possibility of more rate cuts by the Bank of Canada after easing its policy for the second time this year on Wednesday.
The TSX Composite Index stumbled 174.18 points to close Wednesday to 22,639.57.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.02 cents to 72.24 cents U.S.
September futures were down 0.7% Wednesday.
In corporate news, bitcoin miner Bitfarms said it has adopted a second ‘poison pill’ after a Canadian tribunal ceased the earlier one adopted to prevent a potential hostile takeover attempt by rival Riot Platforms.
On the economic schedule today, Statistics Canada reported the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—increased by 41,000 (+0.2%) in May.
The central bank trimmed its key policy rate by 25 basis points, in line with market expectations, and indicated a possibility of more cuts if inflation continues to ease in line with forecasts.
Traders currently see a 62.2% chance of a cut in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 6.52 points, or 1.1%, to wrap up Wednesday at 576.92.
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures were mixed Thursday as investors looked ahead to the release of key data and tried to recover after a tough session for Wall Street.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials faltered 18 points, or 0.04%, to 40,092.
Futures for the S&P 500 index backpedaled 12 points, or 0.2%, at 5,460.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite dropped 62 points, or 0.3%, to 19,142.50.
Ford Motor shares tumbled 13% after the company’s second-quarter earnings came in much lower than analysts expected. Chipotle, meanwhile, added 3% after topping earnings and revenue expectations as it saw higher traffic at its restaurants. American Airlines sank 7% after cutting its guidance.
Wednesday’s trading session saw intense declines for the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite, driven by disappointing quarterly reports from Alphabet and Tesla. This led other heavyweight tech stocks and artificial intelligence darlings like Nvidia and Microsoft to fall in sympathy. Both the broad-market index and the tech-heavy benchmark posted their worst session since 2022, while the Dow shed roughly 504 points to end the day.
Investors have been viewing the recent declines as a sign of an overdue correction in an overbought market, which is now seeing a rotation away from mega-cap tech into small-cap stocks and more cyclical areas of the market.
Jobless claims data, and preliminary second-quarter GDP data will be released before market open.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 withered 3.3% Thursday, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index 1.8%. Meanwhile, trading in Taiwan remained suspended due to a typhoon.
Oil prices gave up $1.54 to $76.05 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices collapsed $50.20 to $2,365.50.
