Canadian Stocks Decline Amid Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks edged lower on Thursday, giving back ground as investors resorted to profit taking from the successive gains of the past two days.

After opening above yesterday's close, the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index turned lower to trade firmly negative and finally closed at 30,458.80, down by 178.32 points (or 0.58%).

Four of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the materials sector leading the pack.

In Canada, the CFIB Barometer long-term index fell 3.9 points to 46.3 in October 2025. Confidence weakened across most sectors, led by construction, transportation, retail, and manufacturing.

Data released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation revealed that housing starts in Canada jumped 14% to 279,234 units in September from 244,543 in August, surpassing market expectations of 255,000.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is aggressively pursuing marketplaces outside of the U.S. for Canadian exports.

Reportedly, Carney used a meeting with world leaders at U.S. President Donald Trump's peace summit in Egypt on Monday to discuss foreign investment, trade agreements, and closer cooperation. This follows his recent efforts to ink bilateral trade deals with Asian countries and Europe.

Carney has spoken with top officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Even as Carney was in Egypt, Canada's Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon was on a three-day trip to the UAE and Qatar to attract investment in Canadian AI whose efforts have been positive so far.

Meanwhile, high-level trade talks between Canada and the U.S. are happening in Washington, D.C. The minister of Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc, Privy Council Clerk Michael Sabia, and other officials are focused in securing some sort of short-term trade relief for Canada's steel, aluminum and energy sectors.

The 35% tariff imposition on Canadian exports by the U.S. (since August 1) has weakened these three sectors in Canada, driving many to joblessness.

Last week's visit by Carney to meet U.S. President Donald Trump did not yield any significant breakthrough in the bilateral tariff dispute, much to the disappointment of investors.

Trump has been unrelenting in his push to move manufacturing back to the U.S.

To force automakers out of Canada and into the U.S., Trump has imposed tariffs of 50% on steel and aluminum and 25% on Canadian cars and light duty trucks (excluding the value of the vehicle made from the U.S. parts).

On Tuesday, automaker Stellantis announced plans to transfer production of one Jeep model to the U.S. (Illinois) from Canada (Brampton, Ontario).

On the same day, U.S. tariffs of 10% on softwood lumber came into effect, bringing the total tariff on such products to 45%.

Carney is under pressure by both business houses and the opposition to set out a comfortable trade environment through the expected review of Canada-United States-Mexico Free-Trade Agreement.

The upcoming budget to be tabled on November 4 is also awaited by investors with eyes on stimulus to bring the economy back on track.

Data released by Statistics Canada on Wednesday revealed that Canada's month-on-month manufacturing sales fell 1.0% to $69.4 billion in August sparking guesses of a weak third quarter 2025 in the anvil.

In the U.S., the government shutdown entered day sixteen today.

Analysts are forecasting a hit to quarterly growth of roughly 0.2 percentage points per week.

Usually in the U.S., government shutdowns are temporary with limited disruption.

As the Trump administration is planning to implement permanent firings this time, even as changes in immigration rules, tariff worries, and cuts in government spending have started to weaken the economy, investors are concerned of a harsher economic climate.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell conceded on Tuesday that the slow growth in hiring is posing a risk to the economy. His message is understood by traders as a signal for another rate cut in Fed's October 28-29 meeting.

Mirroring the U.S., amid headwinds to the business, economists are expecting the Bank of Canada to reduce interest rates again in October even though recent jobs data showed that unemployment rate held steady at 7.1% in September.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Materials (1.90%), Communication Services (0.92%), Consumer Staples (0.56%), and Utilities (0.17%).

Among the individual stocks, Ngex Minerals Ltd (8.11%), Endeavour Silver Corp (6.67%), Lundin Gold Inc (6.64%), Quebecor Inc Cl B Sv (3.20%), and Maple Leaf Foods (1.92%) were the prominent gainers.

Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Industrials (1.31%), Healthcare (1.70%), Financials (1.71%), and Energy (1.90%).

Among the individual stocks, Athabasca Oil Corp (4.22%), Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd (4.15%), International Petroleum Corp (3.91%), Baytex Energy Corp (3.65%), and Brookfield Asset Management Ltd (3.71%) were the notable losers.

Canada Packers Inc WI (8.24%) and Tfi International Inc (7.02%) were among the prime market-moving stocks today.