Equities in Canada’s biggest market skidded Monday, with resource stocks causing the most damage, as suspense over the limited rollout of the Pfizer COVID cast a cloud over markets.
The TSX closed Monday down 161.52 points to 17,387.40.
The Canadian dollar surrendered 0.03 cents to 78.39 cents U.S.
Gold stocks took it on the chin, with Torex Gold Resources fading $1.07, or 5.5%, to $18.57, while Kinross Gold dropped 46 cents, or 2.4%, to $50.01.
Energy stocks also took some knocks, with Seven Generations Energy losing 19 cents, or 3%, to $6.23, while Imperial Oil sliding 70 cents, or 2.8%, to $24.57.
In other resource stocks, MAG Silver gave back $1.14, or 5%, to $19.59, while Osisko Mining lost 18 cents, or 4.9%, to $3.48.
Tech stocks tried to prop up the marker, with Docebo Inc. strengthening $2.51, or 4.1%, to $64.08, while Constellation Software sprinted $49.88, or 3.1%, to $1,671.85.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Sleep Country Canada Holdings rose 54 cents, or 2.1%, to $26.29, while Magna International picked up $1.22, or 1.6%, to $79.63.
Real-estate stocks also tried to help, with RioCan REIT adding 44 cents, or 2.5$, to $17.80, while Summit Industrial REIT improved 26 cents, or 2%, to $13.39.
Canada's first COVID-19 inoculations are set to begin as soon as Monday after some of the 30,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine arrived over the weekend, making Canada one of the few Western nations to start vaccinations.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange forged out gains of 2.17 points to 782.47.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative by the closing bell, with gold slumping 2.2%, while energy and materials each declined 1.8%.
The four gainers were led by information technology, hiking 1.3%, consumer discretionaries, improving 0.9%, and real-estate picked up 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 fell on Monday as fears of additional COVID-19 restrictions offset the optimism around a vaccine rollout.
The 30-stock index stumbled 184.82 points to finish Monday’s trading at 29,861.55.
The S&P 500 lost 15.97 points to 3,647.49.
The NASDAQ gained 62.17 points, however, to 12,440.04.
New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio warned earlier in the day that the city could experience a “full shutdown” soon. His comments put pressure on the Dow and S&P 500.
Other parts of the U.S. as well as other countries have already implemented stricter social distancing measures. In the U.K., the country’s health secretary said London will be placed on England’s toughest tier of COVID-19 restrictions.
Shares of companies that would benefit from the economy reopening lagged companies that thrived early on in the pandemic. United Airlines dropped 3.4%. Amazon, meanwhile, popped 1.3%.
A bipartisan stimulus plan could be introduced in Congress as soon as Monday, but split into two parts in order to improve its chances of approval. The $908-billion bipartisan plan would be split into a $748-billion measure with money for jobless and small business and another part that includes the controversial measures including liability protections and state aid.
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization of Pfizer’s vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield signed off on the drug, allowing inoculations officially to move forward for people ages 16 or older.
The U.S. has begun to ship the doses from a Pfizer facility in Michigan to hundreds of distribution centers across the country. The FDA is also slated to publish its assessment on Moderna’s vaccine this week. The first dose of the vaccine was administered in New York state earlier on Monday.
The COVID-19 vaccine is being rolled out amid some of the darkest days of the pandemic in the U.S. More than 2,300 coronavirus related deaths were recorded Saturday, following over 3,300 deaths Friday. New infections continue to explode, with more than 219,000 cases reported on Saturday.
The Federal Reserve kicks off its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, the central bank’s final meeting of 2020. Economists have speculated that the Fed could make changes to its bond program. The Fed is currently buying at least $80 billion a month of Treasurys, and Fed officials have discussed what they could do to change that program at their last meeting.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury dipped, raising yields to 0.90% from Friday’s 0.89%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 44 cents to $47.01 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices slid $11.60 to $1,832.
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