TSX Ends Lower For 3rd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market ended weak on Wednesday, losing for the third consecutive day, as concerns about interest rate hikes and a potential recession in the U.S. offset some stronger than expected earnings from U.S. tech majors.

Investors digested a slew of earnings announcements by Canadian firms, in addition to tracking economic updates from the U.S. and Europe.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 73.15 points or 0.36% at 20,366.72, after scaling a low of 20,324.48 and a high of 20,501.53 intraday.

Energy stocks declined as crude oil prices fell. Industrials shares also ended weak. Technology stocks moved higher, lifted by strong results from Microsoft and Alphabet.

Aecon Group Inc (ARE.TO) shares plunged more than 12%. The company reported a net loss of $9.4 million or $0.15 per share in the quarter ended March 31, 2023.

TFI International (TFII.TO) tanked more than 11%. The company reported first quarter net income of $111.9 million compare to $147.7 million in the first quarter of the previous year.

Bombardier Inc (BBD.A.TO), Boralex (BLX.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CP.TO) and West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO) ended lower by 2 to 4.3%.

Precision Drilling Corp (PD.TO) rallied 5.3% after reporting first quarter net earnings of C$96 million or C$5.57 per share compared with a net loss of C$44 million or a C$3.25 loss per share in the first quarter of 2022.

CGI Inc (GIB.A.TO) gained about 4%. CGI reported net earnings of $419.4 million in the second-quarter of its current financial year, up $12.7% from a year ago.

Rogers Communications (RCI.A.TO) gained about 2.8% after reporting adjusted net income of $553 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared with adjusted net income of $462 million a year ago.

FirstService Corporation (FSV.TO) gained about 1.5% after reporting consolidated revenues of $1.02 billion for the first quarter, up 22% relative to the same quarter in the prior year.

Teck Resources (TECK.B.TO), Winpak (WPK.TO), Aritzia (ATZ.TO), Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO), Loblaw Companies (L.TO) and Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO) gained 1 to 4%.

In economic news, preliminary data showed that manufacturing sales in Canada likely rose 0.7% month-over-month in March of 2023, rebounding from a 3.6% decline in February, mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment industry.