Equities in Canada’s largest market tumbled to begin Tuesday pressured by losses for the energy group as prices of oil fell to a three-month low, while Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc tumbled after billionaire investor William Ackman sold his entire stake.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dumped 88.82 points to open Tuesday at 15,456
The Canadian dollar shed 0.19 cents at 74.15 cents U.S.
Ackman walked away from Valeant on Monday with a loss of more than $3 billion as he sold his entire stake in the struggling drug company after trying to rescue it for some 18 months.
Valeant shares suffered from the pullout, losing $1.41, or 8.7%, to $14.80.
TD Securities raised the target price on Spin Master Corp. to $43.00 from $39.00. Spin Master soared $1.12, or 3%, to $38.00
Eight Capital revised the rating on DH Corp to tender from buy. DH shares gave back four cents to $25.12.
Among energy issues, Cardinal Energy took it on the chin 70 cents, or 9.3%, to $6.85, while MEG Energy stumbled 45 cents, or 6.8%, to $6.16.
All was not doom and gloom, however; real-estate stocks such as Brookfield Asset Management poked up three cents to $49.06.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange erased 1.05 points to 803.50
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups moved lower in the first hour, as energy and health-care each fell 1.9%, while consumer staples surrendered 1.2%.
Real-estate inched up 0.2% soon after the opening bell.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded lower Tuesday as oil prices continued to fall and traders looked ahead to a likely interest rate hike on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 45.97 points to open at 20,835.51. Chevron and Exxon Mobil were among the stocks with the greatest negative impact on the Dow.
The S&P 500 was dragged down 10.47 points to 2,363, energy the worst performer in the index
The NASDAQ faded 30.84 points to 5,844.94
The Federal Open Market Committee is set to begin its two-day meeting Tuesday and is expected to raise rates. Traders will be watching for indications on how many more rate hikes to expect this year.
In economic news, wholesale inflation, as measured by the producer price index, gained 0.3% last month. In the 12 months through February, the PPI jumped 2.2%, the biggest advance since March 2012 and ahead of the 2% gain forecast in an economist poll.
Earlier on Tuesday, the National Federation of Independent Business said its small business optimism index fell 0.6 points to 105.3 last month.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note moved slightly ahead, lowering yields to 2.6% from Monday’s 2.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices lost 99 cents to $47.41 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices picked up 70 cents to $1,203.80 U.S. an ounce.
