Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday as sharp declines in precious metals pressured mining stocks, while investors assessed a new batch of Wall Street tech earnings and weighed Alphabet's ambitious spending plans.
The TSX collapsed 443.68 points, or 1.4%, to move into noon hour Thursday at 32,127.87.
The Canadian dollar poked ahead 0.2 cents at 73.12 cents U.S.
Investors awaited quarterly results from Canada Goose, scheduled for release today. Shares in Canada Goose changed their flight pattern and lost $3.35, or 18.5%, to $14.75.
First Majestic Silver sagged $1.82, or 4.8%, to $35.75, and Silvercorp Metals was down $1.09, or 7.5%, to $13.45, and while Pan American Silver lost $5.73, or 7.3%, to $72.84..
Barrick Mining tumbled $4.26, or 6.5%, to $61.48, in the selloff, despite beating fourth-quarter profit estimates.
Recent swings in commodity markets have increased volatility in Toronto's resource-heavy benchmark index, leaving investors in uncertainty and highlighting the Canadian markets' sensitivity to global geopolitical unrest.
Thomson Reuters lost $4.92, or 3.9%, to $122.95, despite reporting higher fourth-quarter revenue.
The federal government is expected to announce its national automotive strategy on Thursday, replacing the country's electric vehicle mandate with new fuel-efficiency standards and credits, CBC News reported on Wednesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange withered 42.23 points, or 4.1%, early Thursday afternoon at 996.25.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with materials stumbling 5.3%, gold, weakening 5.2%, and telecoms, off 1.7%.
The four gainers were led by information technology, gathering 2.7%, utilities, better by 0.4%, and health-care, nosing up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities fell for another day on Thursday as investors took a riskoff stance, leading popular trades in technology and bitcoin to unravel.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 327.56 points, or 1.2%, to 48,172.74.
The S&P 500 index fell 45.04 points to 6,837.65
The NASDAQ stumbled 171.91 points to 22,732.67.
Alphabet was the latest of the “Magnificent Seven” companies to report earnings results. The company projected a sharp increase in artificial intelligence spending that spooked some investors, calling for 2026 capital expenditures of up to $185 billion. Shares were last down 3%.
Shares of Broadcom jumped almost 3%, while Nvidia climbed 0.4% following news of Alphabet’s spending plans, offering some hope for the artificial intelligence trade as the market deciphers its winners and losers.
Alongside Alphabet, Qualcomm came under pressure, sliding 7% after posting a weaker-than-expected forecast because of a global memory shortage.
Elsewhere, the selloff in the cryptocurrency market continued to gain steam, as bitcoin fell below $70,000 — which is considered a key support level. In the precious metals space, pressure on silver resumed.
The metal’s prices snapping a two-day rebound and dropping as much as 16%. It had plummeted nearly 30% last Friday.
Adding to the downbeat sentiment, concerns surrounding labor market weakness grew after outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that U.S. employers announced 108,435 layoffs in January, marking the highest January total since the global financial crisis.
Also, initial jobless claims for the week ended Jan. 31 rose more than expected, according to the Labor Department.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury surged, sharply lowering yields to 4.22% from Wednesday’s 4.28%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell back $1.54 to $63.60 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices weakened $58.70 to $4,892.10 U.S. an ounce.
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