Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, as weak oil prices dragged down energy shares, while investors digested the news that the Bank of Canada again chose to stand pat on interest rates.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 163.8 points to begin the mid-week session at 16,133.66
The Canadian dollar lost 0.22 cents to 73.89 cents U.S.
Turquoise Hill Resources disappointed, giving back a penny by noon hour to $1.55.
Canada Goose Holdings plunged $18.03, or 27.1%, the most on the TSX, to $48.60, after the high-end winter clothing maker posted its slowest revenue growth in eight quarters and forecast even slower sales growth for the next three years.
The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1.75%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2% and the deposit rate is 1.5%
A poll of economists showed on Friday that the central bank is done raising interest rates until at least the end of next year with economists pricing a 40% chance of a rate cut by the end of 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange doffed 2.53 points to 603.55.
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were lower, with health-care ducking 3.2%, consumer discretionary down 2.5%, and information technology sinking 1.3%.
The lone gainers were gold, picking up 0.3%, and materials, inching up 0.1%
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Wednesday as bond yields declined again, triggering concerns about the economic outlook. Increasing trade tensions in the China-U.S. trade fight also weighed on markets.
The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 408.59 points, or 1.6%, to 24,939.18,
The S&P 500 lost 36.12 points, or 1.3%, to 2,766.27,
The NASDAQ Composite faded 101.58 points, or 1.3%, to 7,505.77
Bank shares fell along with yields. Citigroup and Bank of America both fell at least 1% while J.P. Morgan Chase lost 0.9%.
Stocks began their descent after a statement from special counsel Robert Mueller, but traders said it was unclear if anything he said weighed on the market.
Mueller said: “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
Washington and Beijing have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of one another’s goods since the start of 2018, battering financial markets and souring business and consumer sentiment.
In the latest move, China made a veiled threat this week through state media regarding rare earth minerals, a market crucial to the U.S. technology and defense industries which China dominates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose, lowering yields to 2.21% from Tuesday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ditched $2.11 to $57.03 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $4.90 to $1,272.00 U.S. an ounce.
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