04:23 PM EST, 12/13/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange fell for a second session on Friday, dropping to the lowest since Nov.20 amid expectations that the federal government will next week be shown to have failed in meeting its fiscal target even before a potentially costly tariff war with the United States that could start early in the new year.

After dropping 247 points a day earlier, the S&P/TSX Composite Index shed a further 136.41 points on Friday to 25,274.3. Among sectors, most were lower, led by the Battery Metals Index, down near 2.5%, and Base Metals, down 1.4%. Information Technology was the sole gainer, up near 0.4%.

Today's closing level for the TSX was more than 400 points below the record close of 25,691.80 posted just last Friday. Going in to today, month to date the TSX was down near 0.9%, while year to date it was up 21.24%.

Individual stocks helping to put a cap on overall losses included Dye & Durham ( DYNDF ) , which closed up 11% at $21.99 after Engine Capital, which has a 7.1% stake. The activist shareholder said more than 63% of Dye & Durham's ( DYNDF ) shares have voted on Engine's 'Blue Proxy Card' with most of the shares voted in favor of each of Engine's six nominees to the company's board. Based on the proxies deposited today, Engine expects that its entire slate will be elected, once it casts its ballots at the Dec.17 annual meeting.

While the federal government is slated to deliver a belated fiscal update on Monday, most economic notes published on this Friday said next week's highlight will instead be the release of November's Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Tuesday.

According to a Dec.9 Bloomberg report, most economists expect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government will break its self-imposed fiscal constraints as deficits in Canada continue to deepen. In a Bloomberg survey, 13 of 15 economists said Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will not meet the fiscal pledges she outlined last year, including a promise to cap the 2023-24 shortfall at C$40.1 billion. In an update last November, she also promised to keep the ratio of federal debt and deficits to gross domestic product on a declining track.

On Tuesday's CPI, National Bank believes gasoline prices remained "more or less stable" over the month, which should translate into an increase of just 0.1% in the headline CPI index. If this scenario materializes, National Bank said the annual inflation rate should remain unchanged at 2.0%. It added the Bank of Canada's core measures, meanwhile, may have weakened a bit, with CPI-trim remaining unchanged at 2.6% and CPI-med slipping from 2.5% to 2.4%.

Of commodities today, West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed higher, rebounding from day-prior losses, at the end of a week dominated by expectations that rising supply is ready to top demand and new sanctions on Russian exports. WTI oil for January delivery close up $1.27 to settle at US$71.29 per barrel, while February Brent oil closed up $1.08 to US$74.49.

But gold traded lower for a second day late afternoon on Friday despite a weaker dollar as the metal remains unable to challenge its October 30 record high despite lower interest rates and rising physical demand. Gold for February delivery was last seen down $44.50 to US$2,664.90 per ounce.