TSX dips after Canada's finance minister resigns abruptly
Updates to market open
By Ragini Mathur
Dec 16 (Reuters) -Canada's main stock index dipped on Monday after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned abruptly ahead of the mid-term budget, while investors awaited the Federal Reserve's rate decision later this week.
At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 0.1% at 25,253.86 points.
Freeland quit just hours before she was due to present a fall economic update to parliament, a document widely expected to show the Liberal government had run up a much larger 2023/24 budget deficit than planned.
"Her reference to – "costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment" – isn't giving investors confidence in the government's response to proposed 25% tariffs from the Trump administration," said Graham Priest, investment advisor, BlueShore Financial.
"Canada likely missed deficit targets. Investors don't have strong confidence in the current government."
Dragging energy stocks lower, oil prices LCOc1, CLc1 dropped about half a percent, pressured by weaker than expected consumer spending in China, the world's largest oil importer. O/R
Gold prices XAU=, however, gained against a softer dollar ahead of the Fed's policy meeting on Wednesday when the central bank is expected to deliver a third rate cut this year and provide hints regarding its 2025 outlook.
A survey showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted further in December, with a measure of factory output dropping to the lowest level in more than 4-1/2 years.
The Bank of Canada slashed its key policy rate by 50 basis points last week to help address slower growth, though Governor Tiff Macklem indicated that further cuts would be more gradual and said he does not expect a recession.
In corporate news, BlackBerry BB.TO soared 15% after it reached an agreement to sell its Cylance business to Arctic Wolf.
Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shailesh Kuber
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