Canadian Market Modestly Lower In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are turning in a mixed performance Wednesday afternoon with investors digesting recent economic data from the U.S., and the Federal Reserve's decision to hold rates steady, pausing after hiking rates in the previous ten meetings.

Industrials and consumer discretionary stocks are among the notable gainers. Energy and healthcare stocks are weak, while shares from the rest of the sectors are mixed.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 55.60 points or 0.28% at 19,934.80.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO) is gaining about 2.5%. Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Ag Growth Corporation (AFN.TO), Linamar Corporation (LNR.TO), Metro Inc (MRU.TO), BRP Inc (DOO.TO), Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), Dollarama (DOL.TO), Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), Waste Connections (WCN.TO), Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) and Cargojet (CJT.TO) are up 1 to 2.3%.

Richelieu Hardware (RCH.TO) is declining more than 4%. Paramount Resources (POU.TO), Keyera Corp (KEY.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO), BCE Inc (BCE.TO), ATS Corporation (ATS.TO) and Open Text Corporation (OTEX.TO) are down 1.7 to 3.2%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed car registrations in Canada decreased to 148,815 units in April from 150,956 units in March of 2023.

The Federal Reserve today announced its widely expected decision to pause its rate increases.

The Fed said it has decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5 to 5.25%, marking the first time the central bank has left rates unchanged since January 2022.

The Fed noted future interest rate decisions will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.

However, the central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6% by the end of 2023.