Energy Weakness Weighs on TSX

Equities in Canada’s largest centre opened lower on Tuesday, hurt by energy stocks, while a larger-than-expected drop in domestic annual inflation raised expectations for an outsized interest rate cut by the Bank of Canada next week.

The TSX Composite Index opened Tuesday down 99.15 to 24,372.02, after five straight days of gains.

Markets in Canada were closed Monday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.05 cents to 72.40 cents U.S.

In corporate news, brokerage CIBC downgraded technology firm VerticalScope Holdings to neutral from outperformer. VerticalScope swooned 34 cents, or 4.1%, to $7.92.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said the consumer price index rose 1.6% on a year-over-year basis in September, down from a 2.0% increase in August. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was unchanged at 0.0% in September.

The agency went on to report wholesale trade (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) fell 0.6% to $81.9 billion in August.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 3.88 points of its mojo to 601.55.

All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the plus column soon after Tuesday’s open, with health-care surging 1.2%, utilities up 0.9%, and consumer staples progressing 0.5%.

The three laggards proved to be energy, down 4.8% in the first hour, materials, sliding 0.5%. and consumer discretionary stocks, off 0.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell from record levels Tuesday as traders sifted through the latest earnings reports.

The 30-stock index sank 175.57 points to 42,889.65.

The S&P 500 index dropped 2.33 points to 5,857.52.

The NASDAQ Composite handed over 29.82 points to 18,472.87.

Wall Street is coming off a winning session that propelled the S&P 500 and Dow to all-time highs. Notably, the Dow added more than 200 points to finish above the 43,000 mark for the first time.

UnitedHealth was down 9% after the company trimmed its full-year earnings outlook. Bank of America ticked 2% higher on better-than-expected results.

Prices for the 10-year Treasury picked up some territory, lowering yields to 4.05% from Monday’s 4.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices ditched $3.32 to $70.51 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices added $5.90 to $2,671.50 U.S. an ounce