Canada's main stock index opened lower on Friday, dragged down by commodity-linked shares, as hawkish commentary from major central banks this week heightened fears of a global recession.
The TSX Composite skidded 123.5 points to kick off Friday at 19,477.13.
The Canadian dollar removed 0.05 cents at 73.16 cents U.S.
In company news, global miner Rio Tinto Ltd said it had completed its long, drawn-out acquisition of the remaining 49% stake in Turquoise Hill Resources, whose stock nosed up two cents to $42.99.
CIBC cut renewable energy producer Transalta Renewables to "neutral" from "outperform". Renewables shares descended 44 cents, or 3.7%, to $11.47.
In matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that October wholesale trade rose 2.1% to $83.4 billion in October. The agency went on to say the largest increases were in the miscellaneous goods, the building material and supplies, and the personal and household goods subsectors.
Foreign investors acquired $8.5 billion of Canadian securities in October, following a significant divestment of $22.5 billion in September. Meanwhile, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $1.7 billion, after buying $10.4 billion in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 1.03 points to 571.82.
All but three of the 12 subgroups lost ground, with energy plummeting 2.5%, utilities falling 0.9%, and industrials weakening 0.8%.
The three gainers were information technology, progressing 0.4%, consumer discretionary, headed higher 0.3%, and gold, up 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were lower Friday as investors continued to sell into year-end on fears a recession is ahead next year because of the Federal Reserve’s unrelenting rate hiking.
The Dow Jones Industrials crumbled 359.19 points, or 1.1%, to begin the week’s last session at 32,843.03,
The S&P 500 folded 43.72 points, or 1.1%, to 3,852.03
The NASDAQ Composite Index dropped 84.41 points, or 3.2%, to 10,726.11.
Trading could be especially volatile Friday with a large amount of options set to expire.
There are $2.6 trillion worth of index options set to expire, the highest amount “relative to the size of the equity market in nearly two years,” according to Goldman Sachs.
The selloff was broad-based, with just 18 names in the S&P 500 trading in positive territory
Meanwhile, shares of Meta rose 5% after JPMorgan upgraded shares of the social media company to overweight from neutral.
Shares of Adobe outperformed after the design software firm posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and guidance that topped expectations. Shares rose 6%.
With these latest declines, the indexes are poised to notch a second consecutive week of losses. The S&P 500 is off more than 1% for the week and about 5% for the month of December as hopes for a year-end rally fizzle.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury tumbled, raising yields to 3.52% from Thursday’s 3.45%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite
directions.
Oil prices docked $1.85 to $74.26 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices restored 14 dollars to $1,801.80 U.S. an ounce.
