Canadian Market Down Sharply As Hotter-than-expected U.S. Inflation Data Weighs

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down sharply on Tuesday with the mood turning extremely bearish after data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. consumer price inflation dashed hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve in March.

Stocks across the board are reeling under pressure. All the sectoral indices are down in the red, with technology and materials shares suffering pronounced losses. Consumer discretionary, real estate, utilities, communications and financials shares are also among the major losers.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 417.49 points or 1.98% at 20,649.81 about an hour past noon.

The Information Technology Capped Index is down 4.1%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is plunging 11.5%. Dye & Durham (DND.TO) is down 8%, while Computer Modelling (CMG.TO), Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO), Open Text Corp (OTEX.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Enghouse Systems (ENGH.TO) and BlackBerry (BB.TO) are down 2 to 3.1%.

The Materials Index is down 3.3%. Ssr Mining Inc (SSRM.TO) is down with a hefty loss of 57%. Sandstorm Gold (SSL.TO) is declining 10.6% and Centerra Gold (CG.TO) is lower by 9%.

Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO), Lithium Americas Corp (LAC.TO), Silvercrest Metals (SIL.TO), Ero Copper (ERO.TO), First Majestic Silver (FR.TO) and Fortuna Silver Mines (FVI.TO) are down 6 to 8%.

Consumer discretionary stocks Brp Inc (DOO.TO), Spin Master Corp (TOY.TO), Canada Goose Holdings (GOOS.TO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR.TO), Mty Food Group (MTY.TO) and Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) are down 2 to 4%.

The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.3% in January after inching up by 0.2% in December. Economists had expected consumer prices to edge up by 0.2%.

While the report also showed the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 3.1% in January from 3.4% in December, economists had expected the pace of growth to slow to 2.9%.

With Federal Reserve officials repeatedly saying they need more "confidence" inflation is slowing before lowering interest rates, the data has further reduced optimism about a near-term rate cut.