12:14 PM EDT, 07/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Toronto Stock Exchange is down 123 points at midday, despite higher commodity prices.

Technology stocks are the biggest decliner, down 2.5%, and mirroring Nasdaq declines -- investors are spooked by the prospect of tighter U.S. trade curbs on companies giving China access to advanced semiconductor technology.

Miners, down 2%, is the second biggest decliner.

Losses may reflect some profit taking after hitting record highs Tuesday.

Oil prices rose early on Wednesday after a report showed U.S. inventories fell again last week amid strong summer demand while the dollar fell to a four-month low.

Gold traded at a record high, pushed up by expectations the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates in September, while the dollar fell to a four-month low

Natural gas held steady, remaining near two-month lows on a decline in export demand and cooling eastern temperatures.

Further on currencies and economics, BMO Economics in its morning note said the loonie was holding steady at C$1.367 after initially weakening on yesterday's softer-than-expected CPI report, which "gives the Bank of Canada a green light" to reduce rates again next week. BMO advanced its call for a September move into July and also sees two additional rate cuts this year, one more than previously thought.

Meanwhile, David Rosenberg in his "Early Morning with Dave" note said the Canadian disinflationary output gap that started nearly a year ago is intact. This, he added, means that the policy rate "should be" below the neutral rate, which the BoC estimates to be in a 2.25% to 3.25% range and places the midpoint at 2.75%. That is fully 200 basis points below the current rate setting of 4.75%. "So," Rosenberg noted, "the debate on Bay Street of whether the Bank cuts rates again at the July 24th meeting is a colossal waste of time. And, if per chance, the BoC does decide to skip, the destination at least is known." Rosenberg said this rate-cutting cycle does not end until that policy rate, at a minimum, gets to the midpoint of that estimated range of R-star. The long end of the BoC curve more or less has this priced but there is at least -50 to -75 basis points of interest rate decline left at the front end (the 2-year GoC note), he added.

Rosenberg in the same note also said the fact that U.S Presidential candidate Trump "weighed in on the Fed in his June Bloomberg interview and warned the central bank not to cut rates ahead of the election points to a future of meddling in monetary policy". Rosenberg also noted Trump stated he will allow Fed Chair Jay Powell to serve out his term -- "this is a shift" -- but only if the Fed Chairman does the "right thing..."