S&P 500 slips, but losses kept in check as Nvidia climbs ahead of results
Investing.com -- Canada’s bellwether index ended lower Monday after hitting record highs to close the week, as a busy week of economic data and hot earnings begins.
As of 4.05 ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX 60 index was down by 0.6% or 9.75 points, while the S&P/TSX Composite index shed 163 points or 0.58% to end at 28,169.94.
Last Friday, the TSX closed at an all-time high, gaining 1% or 277 points, as U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled potential rate cuts at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
At the Wyoming summit, Powell indicated that the U.S. economy was unsteady enough that the central bank may soon need to cut interest rates, pointing to the potential of letting inflation run to focus on risks to employment numbers.
Also in Canadian news last week was a call between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump, which Carney called "a productive and wide-ranging conversation." The TSX rose 0.6% on optimism of a potential trade agreement, as fears were building that talks had stalled. The following day, Canada said it would drop most of its retaliatory tariffs of 25% on non-CUSMA-compliant U.S. goods, further boosting sentiment.
In TSX trade, Cineplex saw a 7% rise as activist stakeholder Windward called for further share buyback and divestitures, to which Cineplex CEO Ellis Jacob responded in a statement to Investing.com, "We welcome input from all our shareholders and agree the exhibition industry is at an inflection point and we are optimistic about Cineplex’s future. We are managing our capital prudently, as we have navigated five challenging years, while acting in the best interest of all stakeholders to maximize long-term value."
Monday’s pullback from last week’s optimism could be short-lived, as chip giant Nvidia is set to report earnings after-hours on Wednesday. In Monday earnings, China e-commerce leader PDD Holdings, owner of Temu, saw its shares jump as much as 4% following results that significantly beat expectations, including an adjusted earnings per ADS of RMB22.07, outperforming analyst consensus expectations of RMB14.80.
U.S. stocks mixed
U.S. stocks also experienced a Monday pullback after Wall Street rallied sharply on dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which heralded interest rate cuts in the near term. Now, investor attention turns solely to Nvidia and the AI trade.
At closing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 394 points or 0.77%, while the S&P 500 lost 27 points or 0.42%.and the tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped by 47 point or 0.22% in anticipation of Nvidia earnings, with the most valuable public company in the world settling 1% higher.
Oil prices higher
Oil prices jumped on Monday as investors weighed Russian supply constraints, specifically after Trump threatened additional sanctions on Russian oil if no progress is made in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
As of 12:10 ET, West Texas Intermediate Crude was higher by 2%, settling at $64.90/barrel, while Brent Oil climbed 1.6% to $68.33/barrel.
Additionally, Ukraine launched a drone attack on Sunday that targeted the Ust-Luga fuel export terminal, Russian officials said. Ukrainian disruption of Russian infrastructure seemingly affirmed investor confidence that talks will stall and sanctions will be placed on Russian oil.
Gold flat, Bitcoin down
Gold was mostly flat on Monday, while Bitcoin fell in sympathy with the markets.
As of 12:20 ET, Gold Futures dropped 1.1 points or 0.03%, while Gold Spot was higher by 0.6 points or 0.02%.
By 12:25 ET, Bitcoin dropped 1.2%, rebounding to $113k after suffering a steeper dip in earlier trade. Analyst flagged resistance levels and a consolidation phase as reasons for the pullback.