Canadian Stocks Firmly Down In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down in negative territory Tuesday morning, with stocks from technology, healthcare and consumer discretionary sectors posting sharp losses.

The mood in the market is quite cautious as investors await the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 159.38 points or 0.83% at 18,945.10.

Technology stocks are down, tracking the sell-off in US tech stocks following Walmart lowering its guidance for the second quarter and full year primarily due to pricing actions aimed to improve inventory levels.

The Information Technology Capped Index is down nearly 5%. Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) is plunging 14.5% on huge volumes. The Shopify counter has clocked a volume of nearly 2.4 million shares so far in the session.

The e-commerce firm will cut about 10% of its workforce today, as Chief Executive Officer Tobi Lutke acknowledged the company's decision to expand rapidly coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic didn't pay off. The move will eliminate about 1,000 jobs out of 10,000 or so total employees at Shopify. Most of the affected roles are in recruiting, support and sales, Lutke said in a memo posted on the company's website.

Hut 8 Mining Corp (HUT.TO) and Celestica Inc (CLS.TO) are down 7% and 6.1%, respectively. Magnet Forensics (MAGT.TO), Lightspeed Commerce (LSPD.TO), Sylogist (SYZ.TO) and Nuvei Corp (NVEI.TO) are lower by 3 to 5%.

Sierra Wireless (SW.TO) is bucking the trend and gaining about 4.3%.

The Healthcare Capped Index is down by about 2%. Aurora Cannabis (ACB.TO) and Canopy Growth Corp (WEED.TO) are declining 5.5% and 5.2%, respectively. Cronos Group (CRON.TO) is down 3% and Tilray Inc (TLRY.TO) is down by about 2.5%.

In the consumer discretionary section, Canadian Tire Corp (CTC.A.TO) and Aritzia Inc (ATZ.TO) both are down more than 5%. Sleep Country Canada Holdings (ZZZ.TO), Canada Goose Holdingsd (GOOS.TO) and Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) are lower by 3 to 4.5%.

Materials stocks Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ.TO) and Franco-Nevada Corp (FNV.TO) are up with impressive gains.

Statistics Canada said that according to preliminary estimates, wholesale sales in Canada rose 0.5% month-on-month in June 2022, thanks to higher sales in the miscellaneous goods subsector.