12:09 PM EDT, 04/25/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The TSX, which was down near 200 points early Thursday, has narrowed its losses and is now 50 points lower.

Info tech (-1.3%) and healthcare (-1.4%) are the biggest decliners, followed by telecoms, which is down 0.8%.

Miners and energy are the sole gainers, up 1% and 0.3%, respectively.

In commodities, oil edged up early on Thursday, rebounding from a day-prior loss, while gold traded lower, falling for a fourth day as the price of the metal corrects after closing at a record high last week and the dollar and treasury yields moved higher.

In terms of influential economic data, Desjardins, after looking at US Q1 GDP data noted the American economy "seemingly moved into a lower gear in the first quarter, but core inflation still accelerated". The headline GDP advance of 1.6% SAAR was materially below expectations for a 2.5% increase during the period.

Despite the cooler than anticipated increase in total economic activity, Desjardins said core consumer price growth "looked too hot" for the Fed's liking. Core PCE inflation rose at an annualized rate of 3.7% quarter-over-quarter. Desjardins said that was "meaningfully" above the 3.4% expected and the 2.0% seen in Q4 2023. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow's monthly PCE data to see whether that was driven by an acceleration in inflation in March or revisions to prior months," it added.

Desjardins noted the simultaneous deceleration in economic activity and strengthening in price pressures complicates the Fed's path forward. But it said the US economy still looks like it's on "solid footing". So, it added, expect US central bankers to remain on the sidelines until later in the year, allowing more time for high interest rates to do their work.

CIBC Economics also said the Fed will need to see both -- the economy sustainably cooling and price pressures abating -- to feel confident in easing policy. CIBC expects them to see that by September this year.

Meanwhile, RBC Economics continues to expect economic growth to slow, but added the Fed needs to see further evidence that inflation is sustainably slowing to the 2% objective before considering a rate cut. As of now, RBC's base case assumptions have the first rate cut to arrive in December this year.