Canada Stocks: Toronto market dips as U.S. inflation data rattles investors

Aritzia

11/01/2024 21:33

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      TSX ends down 0.3% at 20,918.40
    

        * 
      Financials lose 0.9%
    

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      Energy adds 0.8%; oil settles 0.9% higher
    

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      Aritzia jumps after upbeat results
    

  
 (Updates at market close)
    By Purvi Agarwal and Fergal Smith
       Jan 11 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on
Thursday, including declines for financial and industrial
shares, after the release of hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation
data that could reduce prospects of an early shift to interest
rate cuts.
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  ended down 71.02 points, or 0.3%, at 20,918.40.
    "It's more in sympathy with what's happened in the U.S.,"
said Brooke Thackray, a research analyst at Horizons ETFs. "We
saw the CPI print come in for the U.S. at higher than expected."
    U.S. benchmark the S&P 500 also ended lower after data
showed U.S. consumer prices increased more than expected in
December.     
    "Most people are in agreement that this slightly warmer
inflation data is going to limit the Federal Reserve in terms of
rate cuts," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor at Allan
Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth.
    "They're obviously not going to cut as soon as people would
like, and it's quite possible they're not going to cut as many
times."
    Heavily-weighted financials  .SPTTFS  lost 0.9% ahead of
results from major U.S. banks that will kick off the
fourth-quarter earnings season on Friday.
    Industrials were down 0.5%, while the materials group, which
includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer
companies, also ended 0.5% lower.
    Not all sectors lost ground. Energy rose 0.8% as the price
of oil settled 0.9% higher at $72.02 a barrel and consumer
discretionary added 0.6%.
    The latter sector was helped by a gain of nearly 21% for the
shares of Aritzia Inc  ATZ.TO  after the fashion chain company
reported third-quarter results that beat analysts' estimates.

 (Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Purvi Agarwal and
Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
 ((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))