TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index posted a small gain Monday after starting the day lower, while U.S. markets were mixed.
Markets started the day lower in part because of weakness in semiconductor stocks, said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments. That’s after Nvidia, one of the biggest U.S. stocks and a major player in semiconductors, fell 5.5 per cent Friday after leading this year’s rally.
“I think that’s the nervousness we saw in the market when the semis opened down,” said Taylor.
But markets largely recovered as the day progressed, with both the S&P 500 and the Dow ending the day flat, while the Nasdaq hovered lower. Nvidia lost two per cent.
What was driving markets lower initially was “the overall risk that the tech move that’s kept the market up was going to come to an end,” said Taylor.
“That was the fear that everyone was focusing on … but people are not as panicked this afternoon.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 46.97 points at 38,769.66. The S&P 500 index was down 5.75 points at 5,117.94,while the Nasdaq composite was down 65.84 points at 16,019.27.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 31.69 points at 21,769.22.
This week is all about inflation in the U.S., with the latest data on consumer prices coming Tuesday.
Market expectations for the central banks to cut interest rates have been pared down since the beginning of the year as the U.S. economy has maintained strength despite rate hikes, said Taylor.
Last month’s inflation data was hotter than expected. If this month’s report is similar, bond yields will rise in anticipation of higher rates for longer, said Taylor.
Normally that would mean more weakness in equities, especially technology, but as of late that sector seems to have taken a break from its close ties to the economic data, he said.
Much of the movement in tech stocks has been driven by optimism about artificial intelligence, with Nvidia among the companies poised to benefit from the growth in that technology.
Bitcoin hit a new high on Monday, continuing the momentum of its recent strength.
“The U.S. ETFs launched and we’re seeing a ton of demand as it has opened up the asset class to the U.S. retail investor,” said Taylor.
In April, Bitcoin will go through what’s called a “halving,” which reduces the rate at which new bitcoins are created, lowering the supply.
“We’ve got this situation that’s like many other commodities where demand is going up and supply is coming down. And that’s gotten the commodity of bitcoin back to an all time high,” said Taylor.
“Now we just have to see whether it can keep this momentum.”
Taylor said he’s also got his eyes on gold — the commodity had a big week last week, but gold stocks have been lagging the commodity prices.
The April gold contract was up US$3.10 at US$2,188.60 an ounce.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.12 cents UScompared with 74.23 cents US on Friday.
The April crude oil contract was down eight cents at US$77.93 per barrel and the April natural gas contract was down five cents at US$1.76 per mmBTU.
The May copper contract was up four cents at US$3.93 a pound.
— With files from The Associated Press
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
