Fear seems to have gotten the better of investors on both sides of the border with inflation jitters filtering their way into Canadian markets on the eve of an interest rate announcement by the Bank of Canada.
The TSX Composite tumbled 252.09 points, or 1.3%, to wind up Tuesday at 19,990.17.
The Canadian dollar 0.35 cents to 73.24 cents U.S.
Cannabis companies weighed most on the market Tuesday, with Canopy Growth faltering 96 cents, or 16.4%, to $4.90, while Cronos Group fell 63 cents, or 13.3%, to $4.11.
In energy, Paramount Resources slid two dollars, or 6.8%, to $27.32, while Nuvista docked 83 cents, or 6.2%, to $12.48.
Techs took it on the chin, too, as Softchoice let go of $1.05, or 7.2%, to $13.57, while BlackBerry chucked 32 cents, or 4.9%, to $6.25.
Only gold held out against the negative tide, as Torex Gold acquired 21 cents, or 1.6%, to $13.10, while Eldorado Gold claimed eight cents to $11.00.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said Canada's merchandise exports rose 1.5% in October, while imports increased 0.6%. As a result, Canada's merchandise trade surplus with the world widened from $607 million in September to $1.2 billion in October. The IVEY PMI index registered at 51.4 in November, compared to 50.1 in October, and much lower than its November 2021 reading of 61.2.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 0.39 points to 581.25
All but one of the 12 subgroups were lower, with health-care collapsing 7.3%, energy, cratering 3.5%, and information technology off 2.1%.
Only gold emerged with some dignity, nosing ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks tumbled Tuesday, building on the previous session’s losses, as fears of a recession gripped Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 350.76 points, or 1%, to 33,596.34. Tuesday’s moves bring the Dow’s two-day losses to more than 830 points.
The S&P 500 subtracted 57.58 points, or 1.4%, to 3,941.26, falling for a fourth straight day.
The NASDAQ dropped 225.05 points, or 2%, to 11,014.89. With Tuesday’s losses, the S&P is already down 3.2% this week and the NASDAQ is off by 3.9%.
Media and bank stocks, which tend to suffer during recessions, led the losses. Paramount Global’s CEO warned of lower fourth-quarter advertising revenue, sending shares down nearly 7%. Morgan Stanley’s stock slumped amid news it’s planning to cut 2% of its workforce, continuing the recent layoff trend in the sector. Growth-focused technology names like Nvidia, Amazon and Meta Platforms also weighed on the market.
Better-than-expected November ISM Services data, which looks at the purchasing level of manufacturers as a gauge the health of the broader economy, pressured equities Monday. The report further fueled fears that the Federal Reserve will need to hike rates for longer than anticipated to bring down inflation.
Markets are largely expecting a 50-basis-point rate hike at the Fed’s December meeting, but remain conflicted over how long the central bank’s interest rate hiking campaign will need to last.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 3.53% from Monday’s 3.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices skidded $2.57 to $74.36 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $2.20 to $1,783.50 U.S. an ounce.
Selling Intensifies, Markets Take Heavy Losses
