Markets were once again bruised throughout North America Thursday, with resource taking the brunt of the continuing selloff.
The S&P/TSX, plummeted another 138.2 points to close Thursday 19,699.05.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.28 cents at 76.67 cents U.S.
On Wednesday, the Canadian benchmark index fell to its lowest level since last July, taking its losses since the March 29 closing record high to 10.2%. A correction is confirmed when an index closes 10% or more below its record closing level.
Gold got kicked around Thursday, as Wesdome collapsed $1.80, or 14.4%, to $10.70, while Seabridge Gold slid $1.37, or 7%, to $18.22.
Other resource stocks were similarly punished, Cascades tumbling $2.80, or 24.6%, to $9.09, while Hudbay Minerals descended 46 cents, or 6.5%, to $6.58.
Energy stocks did not fare much better, with Advantage Oil and Gas had anything but an advantage, getting pummeled $1.11, or 10.4%, to $9.59, while Nuvista lost 89 cents, or 7.4%, to $11.07.
Cannabis issues tried to level things off, with Tilray soaring 43 cents, or 8.1%, to $5.72, while Canopy Growth, well, grew, 50 cents, or 7.8%, to $6.94.
In consumer stocks, Alimentation Couche-Tard picked up $2.68, or 4.8%, to $57.58, while Loblaw gathered $2.14, or 1.9%, to $113.43.
Canadian Tire hiked $9.49, or 5.8%, to $173.78, while Canada Goose Holdings flew $1.01, or 4.3%, to $24.66.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange got whacked 33.65 points, or 4.8%, to 667.25.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground Thursday, with gold dulling in price 4.4%, materials giving up 3.6%, and energy off 2%.
The five gainers were led by health-care, pumping up 3.4%, consumer staples, up 2.3%, and consumer discretionary stocks, up 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday as the market selloff continued following yet another failed attempt at a turnaround saw the Dow fall for its sixth-straight day.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows of the day, but still finished negative 103.81 points to 31,730.30.
The S&P 500 slid 5.1 points to 3,930.08. The S&P 500 hit a new low for 2022, closing more than 18% off its 52-week high and steering closer toward bear market territory.
The NASDAQ Composite overcame all the gloom and forged ahead 6.73 points to 11,370.96.
All the major averages closed the session on track for weekly losses.
Some heavily shorted names led the brief rally from earlier in the day and continued to trade higher. Shares of Lucid popped 13.2% while
GameStop and AMC jumped more than 30% and 20%, before pulling back gains. Rivian Automotive also soared about 18% after reporting its latest quarterly results and Carvana, which hit a two-year low earlier in the session, surged more nearly 25%.
While it was unclear what was driving gains from Lucid, GameStop and AMC, it could mean a short squeeze was taking place, where hedge funds that have profited from the steep losses in overvalued pandemic winners this year were finally closing out their short positions by buying back the shares.
Short selling is a tactic where funds sell shares that are borrowed from investment banks and so in order to close the trade they need to buy the stocks and return them. A short squeeze is a rally that results from that buying.
Apple lost 2.7%, pushing the shares into bear market territory — down 22% from a 52-week-high. It came as Saudi Aramco surpassed the tech giant as the world’s most valuable company on Wednesday. Meanwhile, shares of Amazon and Meta Platforms closed up more than 1%.
Disney shares fell to a two-year low and closed about 0.9%. The media giant reported higher-than-expected streaming subscriber growth, but warned about the Covid impact on parks in Asia.
Fresh producer price index data, which measures prices at the wholesale level, rose 11% year over year. That number fell from March but came in above expectations and did little to shake fears of rising inflation.
Treasury prices gained sharply, with yields slumping to 2.86% from Wednesday’s 2.93%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.04 at $106.75 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tumbled $32.70 to $1,821 U.S. an ounce.
