Canadian Markets Remains In Negative Territory; Energy, Materials Shares Decline

(RTTNews) - After opening slightly up, the Canadian market tumbled into negative territory Friday morning as tariff threats and weak commodity prices, as well a few disappointing earnings updates prompted investors to press sales at several counters. Preliminary data showing a likely drop in retail sales in January is weighing as well.

Materials, energy, healthcare and technology stocks are among the notable losers. Several stocks from consumer discretionary sector are also weak. A few stocks from utilities and communications sectors are finding good support.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 181.82 points or 0.71% at 25,332.26 about half an hour past noon.

The Materials Capped Index is down 1.88%. Iamgold Corp is down nearly 9%. Iamgold reported fourt-quarter net earnings of and adjusted net earnings per share of $0.15 and $0.10, respectively.

Eldorado Gold is declining 7%. New Gold, Ivanhoe Mines, Fortuna Silver Mines, Seabridge Gold, Centerra Gold and First Quantum Minerals are down 5 to 6%.

Lundin Mining, Hudbay Minerals, Kinross Gold, Sandstorm Gold and Equinox Gold Corp are also sharply lower.

The Energy Capped Index is down more than 1%. MEG Energy Corp, Veren Inc, Baytex Energy, Cenovus Energy, Nuvista Energy and Imperial Oil are among the major losers in the sector.

Technology stocks CGI Group, BlackBerry, Shopify, Dye & Durham, Open Text Corp and Bitforms are down sharply.

Onex Corporation (ONEX.TO) is down 3.4%. The company reported net loss of $2 million for the quarter ended December 2024, compared to net earnings of $373 million in the year-ago quarter.

Emera Incorporated (EMA.TO) is up nearly 1% after reporting fourth-quarter net income of $154 million, or $0.52 per common share, compared with net income of $289 million, or $1.04 per common share, in the year-ago quarter.

Retail sales in Canada are expected to ease by 0.4% from the previous month in January of 2025, the first drop in seven months, according to preliminary estimates. That follows a 2.5% surge in the final month of 2024, revised higher from the preliminary estimate of 1.6%, to mark the sharpest rise in retail turnover since May of 2022.

Retail Sales Excluding Autos in Canada increased 2.7% month-over-month in December 2024, rebounding from a 0.7% fall in November.

Retail Sales in Canada rose by 3.9% from a year ago in December 2024, following an upwardly revised 2.1% increase in the prior month.