Toronto’s main stock market and the Canadian dollar closed slightly lower Wednesday as investors again watched for signs of progress following a resumption of NAFTA talks by Canada and the United States.
The political issue of trade again took centre stage, said Allan Small, senior investment adviser with HollisWealth.
“A lot is hanging on these talks and what they can accomplish and I think the market right now is basically taking a wait-and-see approach,” he said in an interview.
While consumer spending remains strong, corporations are waiting for a decision on NAFTA before making spending decisions, Small added.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 23.73 points to 16,137.57, after reaching a low of 16,032.96 on 219.6 million shares traded. That follows a 108.67-point decline on Friday and a 101.58 point drop on Tuesday.
About half of the sectors closed up, led by consumer staples and telecom services. Loblaw Companies Ltd. rose 4.57% to $69.27 a day after the supermarket chain announced it will spin out its real estate investment trust to focus solely on its grocery and pharmacy business.
The information technology sector lost almost two% as Blackberry Ltd.’s stock fell more than 6% to $13.15 after Facebook filed a patent infringement lawsuit in U.S. court.
The health-care sector had a down day as cannabis stocks lost some ground.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 22.51 points to 25,974.99. The S&P 500 index was down 8.12 points to 2,888.60, while the Nasdaq composite was down 96.07 points at 7,995.17.
Stocks of some of the world’s largest tech names fell as their executives defended their companies in congressional hearings. Twitter’s CEO and Facebook’s No. 2 testified about ways they are trying to root out foreign interference ahead of the midterm elections.
The Canadian dollar closed down slightly to US75.84¢ compared with an average of US75.86¢ on Tuesday.
The loonie barely budged after, as expected, the Bank of Canada decided not to raise its interest rate but signalled another hike could come in October to keep inflation in check.
Small said the market is pricing in about an 85% chance that the bank is going to raise rates again.
“When the Bank of Canada didn’t move today I think it was expected so I think the dollar held its own.”
The October crude contract was down US$1.15 at US$68.72 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down US2.8¢ at US$2.80 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$2.20 at US$1,201.30 an ounce and the December copper contract was up US0.8¢ at US$2.61 a pound.