Canadian stocks experienced a substantial downturn on Wednesday due to heightened selling pressures, leading the S&P/TSX Composite Index to plummet to its lowest level in six weeks. The decline was fueled by political unrest and heightened fears of a tariff conflict, creating a predominantly bearish market sentiment.
The selling pressures intensified notably in the late afternoon following indications from the Federal Reserve that there would be fewer interest rate cuts next year than previously anticipated. While the Fed did implement an expected 25 basis point reduction in interest rates, its latest forecasts now project rates to fall within a range of 3.75% to 4% by the end of 2025, as opposed to the 3.25% to 3.5% range forecast in September.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index concluded trading at 24,557.00, marking a drop of 562.71 points or 2.24%, one of the most significant declines observed in recent months.
Reflecting the broad selling activity, every sectoral index ended the day in negative territory. The Information Technology Capped Index suffered the largest decline, falling by 4.46%. The Materials Capped Index decreased by 3.46%, while the Healthcare and Real Estate indices saw reductions of 2.95% and 2.57% respectively. Consumer Discretionary, Financials, Energy, and Utilities sectors experienced losses ranging from 1.84% to 2.02%.
Hut 8 Corp (HUT.TO) saw an 11% decline. Meanwhile, Shopify Inc (SHOP.TO) ended 7.3% lower. Other notable decliners included Brookfield Asset Management (BAM.TO), Celestica Inc (CLS.TO), Docebo Inc (DCBO.TO), TerraVest Industries (TVK.TO), Dayforce (DAY.TO), Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM.TO), Constellation Software (CSU.TO), and Bombardier Inc (BBD.B.TO), all of which fell by 4% to 6.2%.
Further losses were echoed among Colliers International (CIGI.TO), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM.TO), Descartes Systems Group (DSG.TO), Kinaxis Inc (KXS.TO), TFI International (TFII.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO), Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), and Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO), which closed with losses between 2% to 3.5%.
Organigram Holdings Inc. (OGI.TO) dropped nearly 8%, despite reporting a narrower net loss for the fourth quarter, attributed to increased revenue and reduced costs. The company reported a net loss of C$5.433 million for the three months ending September 30, a considerable improvement from the C$26.595 million loss during the same period last year.
In contrast, Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO) surged by over 7%. Positive performances were also seen from Sangoma Technologies (STC.TO), GFL Environmental (GFL.TO), Quebecor Inc (QBR.B.TO), Boyd Group Services (BYD.TO), Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC.TO), and K-Bro Linen (KBL.TO), which closed with substantial to moderate gains.
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