Stocks in Toronto scraped lows it hadn’t seen all summer, as worries about China's economic growth and weakness in commodity prices weighed on shares of natural resource producers.
The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 136.35 points to end Monday at 15,129.
The Canadian dollar fell back 0.52 cents to 90.64 cents U.S.
Shares of energy producers moved lower, as Suncor Energy dropped 1.6% to $41.33, and Talisman Energy Inc fell 2.4% to $9.82.
The gold-mining sector was down with Barrick Gold losing 0.6% to $17.00 and Goldcorp declining 0.6% to $25.75.
In corporate news, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals said that U.S. and Canadian regulators have authorized the use of its Ebola treatment in patients who have confirmed or suspected infections from the deadly virus. Shares of the drug maker jumped 15% to $26.01.
In corporate news, BlackBerry plans to sell its new Passport smartphone for $599 U.S. without a wireless carrier contract in the U.S., about $50 to $250 cheaper than various models of the iPhone 6 and Samsung's Galaxy S4 currently on shelves.
The price could give BlackBerry an advantage as it works to secure large orders of the device from corporate customers and plans to sell the phone at wireless stores. Canadian prices for the BlackBerry Passport haven't been officially released. Shares in BlackBerry gained 16 cents, or 1.4%, to $12.05 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
A Reuters poll showed growth in the Chinese factory sector probably stalled in September. Further, the country's finance minister said that China will not dramatically alter its economic policy because of any one economic indicator.
Canadian retail sales for July will be released Tuesday, with analysts expecting a bump of 0.4% year-over-year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 26.97 points to 928.09.
All but three of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on the day, with global base metals sinking 2.2%, while metals and mining and gold stocks trundled lower 1.9%.
The three gainers were telecoms, up 0.4%, consumer staples, up 0.3%, and consumer discretionaries, inching up 0.03%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday, with the S&P 500 falling by its largest margin in nearly seven weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrials was down 107.06 points to close at 17,172.68
The S&P 500 dipped 16.11 points to 1,994.24. The NASDAQ lost 52.10 points to 4,527.69.
Alibaba shares fell 4.3% on the second day of trading. With the e-commerce company’s underwriters set to exercise an option to sell additional shares, the IPO is now officially the world’s largest
Shares in Apple, Inc. closed slightly higher after the company said iPhone 6 sales topped 10 million during the first weekend, a new Apple record.
AutoZone Inc. reported fiscal-fourth quarter earnings that topped estimates, but sales were slightly below forecasts. Shares were dropped 4%.
Dresser-Rand Group Inc. gained 2.6% after German engineering company Siemens AG announced a deal to buy the U.S. oil-equipment maker for $7.6 billion U.S.
Shares of Sigma-Aldrich Corp. soared 33% after Merck & Co. Inc. said Monday it will pay $140 U.S. per share for the life-science and technology company, a price that values the company at around $17 billion U.S.
Data released on Monday shows U.S. economic activity was lackluster in August. Sales of existing homes unexpectedly declined in August, for the first time in five months, the National Association of Realtors reported Monday. NAR attributed the drop to fewer all-cash sales to investors.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained ground, lowering yields to 2.57% from Friday’s 2.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 95 cents to $91.46 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices stepped back 40 cents to $1,216.20 U.S. an ounce.
