Equities on both sides of the line moved lower in the triple digits ahead of the Easter long weekend, amid building geopolitical tensions, as energy issues took the brunt of the negative vibes.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index went south 112.92 points Thursday to close a short week at 15,535.48
The Canadian dollar loosed 0.47 cents at 75.01 cents U.S.
Markets in North America are closed Friday for Good Friday.
Energy stocks struggled Thursday, as Suncor Energy slid 66 cents, or 0.7%, to $40.69, while Imperial Oil fell 91 cents, or 2.2%, to $40.05.
Among financials, Royal Bank of Canada pulled back $1.43, or 1.5%, to $94.63, and Bank of Nova Scotia fell 79 cents, or 1%, to $75.99.
In health-care, Canopy Growth faded 38 cents, or 3.7%, to $10.05, while rival Aphria Inc. stumbled 69 cents, or 8.3%, to $7.21.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada’s new housing price rose 0.4% in February over the previous month. The agency said Ontario accounted for most of the gain, as new house prices increased in all 10 of its surveyed metropolitan areas.
What’s more, manufacturing in this country decreased during the same month, though not by as much as some analysts had feared.
The agency said manufacturing sales edged down 0.2% in February to $53.6 billion, following three consecutive monthly increases.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange grew 4.85 points to 834.62
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red by Thursday’s closing bell, as energy dropped 1.7%, financials, off 1%, and health-care, suffering 0.9%
Only telecoms pulled ahead, and only 0.1% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Thursday after the U.S. dropped "the mother of all bombs" in Afghanistan while bank stocks dropped despite strong earnings from JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.
The Dow Jones Industrials lost 138.61 points to finish Thursday at 20,453.25, with Chevron contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 slid 15.98 points to 2,328.95, with energy and financials leading decliners.
The NASDAQ Composite faded 31.01 points to 5,805.15.
The three major U.S. indexes, meanwhile, were on pace to end the week slightly lower.
The Associated Press broke the story that the U.S. used a GBU-43 bomb on a cave complex believed to be hiding ISIS fighters. The bomb had never been used in combat, according to a Pentagon spokesman.
Defense stock General Dynamics remained in the money. Investors were also nervous ahead of a potential North Korean nuclear bomb test, which could come as early as Saturday.
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo all reported quarterly results on Thursday. JPMorgan easily topped expectations, while Citigroup also posted better-than-expected results. Wells Fargo posted mixed results.
In economic news, jobless claims came in at 234,000, below expectations, while March Producer Price Index declined 0.1%. Consumer sentiment came in at 98, beating expectations.
Investors grew nervous this week as overseas tensions between the U.S. and Russia heated up as State Secretary Rex Tillerson flew to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Also, Wall Street grew jittery as it gauged where the Trump administration's priorities were. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump told media outlets he wanted to repeal and replace Obamacare before moving on to tax reform.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal later on Wednesday he thought the dollar was getting "too strong." The comment sent the dollar index to its lowest level of the month against a basket of currencies
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note were higher, thus lowering yields to 2.23% from Wednesday’s 2.27%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gave back eight cents at $53.03 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices gained $10.50 at $1,288.60 U.S. an ounce.
