Canadian Market Witnessing Another Weak Spell

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are turning in a mixed performance on Thursday with investors largely making cautious moves, digesting the latest batch of Canadian and U.S. economic data, and a slew of earnings updates.

Investors are also reacting to the European Central Bank's interest rate decision, and its outlook for future monetary policy path.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 98.77 points or 0.52% at 18,849.08 nearly half an hour past noon.

Technology and materials shares are weak. Utilities, financials and a few stocks from the real estate sector are faring well.

Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) is plunging 12.7%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is down by about 3%. Constellation Software (CSU.TO), Opex Text Corp (OTEX.TO), BlackBerry (BB.TO) and Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO) are down 1.4 to 3%.

Materials shares K92 Mining Inc (KNT.TO), Endeavour Silver Corp (EDR.TO), Seabridge Gold (SEA.TO), Oceanagold (OGC.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO) and First Quantum Minerals (FM.TO) are down 3 to 4%. Eldorado Gold (ELD.TO) and Franco-Nevada (FNV.TO) are also sharply lower.

Utilities shares Boralex Inc (BLX.TO), Hydro One (H.TO), Transalta Corp (TA.TO), Fortis Inc (FTS.TO) and Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp (AQN.TO) are gaining 1.3 to 2.4%.

Canadian Utilities (CU.TO) is up more than 2%. The company reported third quarter 2023 adjusted earnings of $87 million ($0.32 per share), compared to $120 million ($0.45 per share) in the third quarter of 2022.

In the financials sector, Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) is up 2%. Onex Corp (ONEX.TO), CDN Western Bank (CWB.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) are up 1 to 1.6%.

FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) reported consolidated revenues of $1.12 billion for the third-quarter, up 16% compared to the year-ago quarter. The stock is up 0.6%.

ATCO Ltd. (ATO.X.TO) reported third quarter 2023 adjusted earnings of $81 million ($0.71 per share), compared to $87 million ($0.76 per share) in the year-ago quarter. The stock is gaining about 1.3%.

Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO) reported third-quarter net earnings of $20 million or $1.45 per share compared to $31 million or $2.26 per share in the corresponding quarter last year. The stock is down by about 4%.

On the economic front, a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business showed Canada's CFIB Business Barometer long-term optimism index fell for the second straight month to 47.2 in October 2023 from 48.7 in the prior month. It was the lowest reading since April 2020.

Data from Statistics Canada showed average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees in Canada remained unchanged at 4.2% year-on-year to $1,218 in August of 2023, after the July reading was revised down from 4.3%.

According to preliminary estimates, manufacturing sales in Canada likely fell by 0.1% from a month earlier in September 2023, following a 0.7% gain in August.