S&P/TSX composite outperforms most U.S. markets but falls a day after Fed moves

TORONTO -

The makeup of Canada's main stock index helped it to outpace most U.S. counterparts Thursday, even as North American markets gave up some gains following the U.S. Federal Reserve plan to attack inflation.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 29.38 points to 20,739.78, a day after ending a five-day skid.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 29.79 points at 35,897.64. The S&P 500 index was down 41.18 points at 4,668.67, while the Nasdaq composite was down 385.14 points or 2.5 per cent at 15,180.44.

Stock markets reversed Wednesday's bounce that came after the U.S. central bank delivered a hawkish tone by speeding up its withdrawal of monetary stimulus and forecasting up to three interest rate hikes next year to tackle inflation.

"It's a bit of a pullback in tech stocks and a bit of a relief bounce from some of the commodities, and that's why we're seeing a divergence," said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer of Purpose Investments.

The technology sector sustained the largest swing, especially in the U.S., where big cap tech stocks that had been holding up the market gave up some of their gains.

Adobe shares lost 10 per cent after the company issued a weak guidance.

"That's just kind of indicative that the sector could be under pressure in the next little bit as these companies maybe got too extended on the valuation level and if the earnings start to fade they might have to pull back as a group," he said in an interview.

Taylor added that there could be a further rotation away from tech towards some other areas of the market.

Technology was the biggest laggard on the TSX, falling 2.9 per cent as shares of Hut 8 Mining Corp. lost eight per cent, Lightspeed Commerce Inc. fell 6.5 per cent and Shopify Inc was down 3.4 per cent.

Government actions to address the spreading Omicron variant caused Air Canada shares to fall 3.2 per cent and push industrials lower.

Commodities were the big winners on the day as materials climbed 2.3 per cent with gold enjoying a strong showing on a weakened U.S. dollar.

The February gold contract was up US$33.20 or 1.9 per cent at US$1,797.70 an ounce and the March copper contract was up 12 cents at US$4.30 a pound.

Shares of MAG Silver Corp. increased 8.4 per cent while Pan American Silver Corp. rose 7.7 per cent and Kinross Gold Corp. was 6.7 per cent higher.

"The golds, which haven't really done much this year, are having one of the best days of the year and it could be entering a pretty good seasonal period for the gold stocks here," said Taylor.

Energy was up on higher crude oil prices as Birchcliff Energy Ltd. and Arc Resources Ltd. were up 2.1 and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

The February crude oil contract was up US$1.15 at US$71.81 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up seven cents at US$3.87 per mmBTU.

The Canadian dollar traded for 78.24 cents US compared with 77.56 cents US on Wednesday.

The heavyweight financials sector was also stronger with National Bank, CIBC and Laurentian Bank up at least 1.5 per cent.

Trading volumes were relatively light a day after investors viewed the Fed announcement as the last big event of the year, said Taylor.

"Volumes are really bad today and I'm sure they're going to get worse in the next few weeks," he said.

"So there's not a lot of people around, so I think some are taking profits from yesterday's bounce. But it's also just a concern that some of these companies have gotten extended.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2021.