Canada Stocks: TSX closes down as Shopify slumps, global stocks wobble

Wesdome Gold Mines (ontario)

26/07/2022 21:31

* Shopify drops 13.6% on job cuts, dragging tech sector down
4.6%
    * TSX closes down 0.69% at 18,972.68
    * Markets brace for Fed rate hike, U.S. tech earnings

 (Adds closing prices and market details)
    By Nichola Saminather and Bansari Mayur Kamdar
    July 26 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index closed lower
on Tuesday, dragged down by 13.6% slump in e-commerce company
Shopify and weakness in global markets ahead of tech earnings
reports and a U.S. interest rate hike this week.     
    The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index
 .GSPTSE  closed down 131.8 points, or 0.69%, at 18,972.68.
    Shares of Shopify  SHOP.TO , the worst performer on the
index, posted their biggest daily loss since May after the
company laid off https://news.shopify.com/changes-to-shopifys-team
 10% of its workforce.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Z72VC 
    "It is really shining a light on the real growth slowdown
that we're seeing here, in particular in e-commerce," said James
Telfser, portfolio manager at Aventine Investment Counsel.   
    The TSX information technology sector  .SPTTTK  closed 4.6%
lower. 
    Microsoft and Google are set to report results on Tuesday
after the market close. 
    The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates
75 basis points on Wednesday and investors on both sides of the
border are waiting to parse the central bank's statement for any
shift in rhetoric.
    A drop in U.S. consumer confidence, a profit warning from
Walmart Inc  WMT.N  and another cut in the International
Monetary Fund's global growth forecast added to market jitters.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z71AO urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Z63A4 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z716F
   The flight to safety lifted Canadian gold miners, with the
materials group  .GSPTTMT  up 1%. Gold companies OceanaGold Corp
 OGC.TO , New Gold Inc  NGD.TO  and Wesdome Gold Mines  WDO.TO 
were the biggest gainers. 
    This, despite a lacklustre showing from spot gold  XAU= ,
which lost 0.1%. While gold is considered a hedge against
inflation, rising interest rates reduce the appeal of the
non-yielding asset.  
    The energy sector  .SPTTEN  lost 0.7%, weighed on by a 1.8%
drop in U.S. crude  CLc1 . The United States said it would sell
an additional 20 million barrels of crude from its Strategic
Petroleum Reserve as part of a previous plan to use the facility
to calm oil prices.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Z7049   O/R 

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Shopify down over 75% YTD    https://tmsnrt.rs/3S2f4ws
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 (Reporting by Nichola Saminather in Toronto and Bansari Mayur
Kamdar Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Johann M Cherian;
Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Grant McCool)
 ((Nichola.Saminather@thomsonreuters.com;))