The TSX plunged deeper into the negative territory, even falling temporarily below the 15,000 threshold, hit by sharp losses in the resource, financials, and utility sectors.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 136.59 points to close Tuesday at 15,050.81
The Canadian dollar plummeted 0.75 cents to 80.45 cents U.S.
Gold stocks took a thumping as Iamgold suffered 14 cents, or 5.3%, to $2.52, while Argonaut Gold got walloped 10 cents, or 5.1%, to $1.85.
Ivanhoe Mines was still the most heavily traded stock, gaining nine cents, or 7.8%, to $1.25, or 4.5 million shares
Canadian stocks from the energy groups retreated, as Precision Drilling plunged 42 cents, or 4.8%, to $8.32, and Penn West Petroleum lost 11 cents, or 4%, to $2.52
The info tech sector remained resilient, as Wi-Lan gained four cents, or 1.7%, to $2.46, and Open Text Corp. took on 72 cents, or 1.4%, to $53.14.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 8.13 points to 691.96
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower, with gold sliding 2.2%, materials bruised 2%, and energy down 1.6%.
Only information technology moved higher, and 0.4% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed about 1% lower on Tuesday as investors eyed renewed strength in the U.S. dollar and mixed data that could strengthen the case for a rate hike.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 190.48 points, or 1%, to end the day at 18,041.54, with Apple leading all blue chips lower.
The S&P 500 index slid 21.79 points to 2,104.27. Information technology and energy led declines in the S&P 500, with First Solar and Hewlett-Packard the greatest laggards.
The NASDAQ let go of 56.61 points to 5,032.75, as tech stocks traded lower.
Earnings out on Tuesday included AutoZone before market open, with Workday and TiVo due after the bell.
AutoZone said quarterly gross profit was 52.3%, a slight uptick from 52% for the same period last year. Same-store sales increased 2.3% for the quarter.
In other corporate news, Charter Communications said it would purchase Time Warner Cable for $55 billion U.S, valuing each share around $195.71 U.S. The deal merges the second and third largest U.S. cable companies and creates a greater rival for Comcast Corp.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Cisco Systems in a $64-million U.S. patent infringement verdict the company is fighting.
Qualcomm has struck a mobile technology partnership with automaker Daimler, involving the recharging of mobile devices as well as electric cars.
Apple named senior vice president of design Jony Ive to the newly created position of Chief Design Officer.
BlackBerry will lay off an unknown number of workers in its device business, according to Re/Code.
Housing data showed improvement. New home sales for April showed an increase of 6.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000, up from the consensus 510,000.
The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas gained 5% in March on a year-over-year basis, matching February's gain. The March reading topped a Reuters poll of economists that forecast a rise of 4.7%.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence report was 95.4 in May, above the revised April read of 94.3.
Markit's Purchasing Managers Index for the services sectors fell for a third straight month in May to 56.4 from April's final read of 57.4.
Before the bell, durable goods for April showed a decline of 0.5%, roughly in-line with expectations. Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 1% last month after an upwardly revised 1.5% increase in March.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.14% from Friday’s 2.21%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.58 a barrel to $58.14 U.S.
Gold prices fell $16.60 to $1,188.30 U.S. an ounce.
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