Equities in Toronto fell at the open on Thursday, with technology and materials stocks weighing after U.S. economic data triggered fresh concerns over the Federal Reserve's continued rate hike trajectory.
The TSX Composite sagged 156.87 points, after Wednesday’s gains, to commence Thursday at 19,414.23.
The Canadian dollar subsided 0.11 cents at 73.35 cents U.S.
Among single stocks to look out for, RBC started coverage on asset manager Brookfield Asset Management with an "outperform" rating.
Bombardier CEO Eric Martel voiced concerns over Canada's potential plan to buy reconnaissance jets directly from Boeing Co instead of tapping its home-grown aerospace industry through a bidding process.
Canaccord Genuity raised Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust to "buy" from "hold".
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said its Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours was little changed in October (-5,400), following an increase of 96,400 (+0.5%) in September.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange pointed dipped 2.51 points to 570.76.
All 12 subgroups were losers first thing Thursday, with health-care paling 2.1%, information technology clicking 2% lower, and consumer discretionary stocks off 1.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Thursday as a year-end selloff returned to Wall Street following a brief respite this week.
The Dow Jones Industrials faltered 467.08 points, or 1.4%, to begin Thursday at 32,908.47
The S&P 500 backpedaled 71.11 points, or 1.8% at 3,807.33.
The NASDAQ Composite Index collapsed 279.61 points, or 2.6%, to 10,429.76.
This decline follows a 526-point rally in the Dow on Wednesday after better-than-expected earnings from Nike and FedEx, as well as strong consumer sentiment data for December. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite each surged 1.5% Wednesday.
However, the selling returned Thursday as investors remained concerned that further monetary tightening from central banks around the world will push the economy into a recession. Tech shares led the losses, with semiconductor companies such as Lam Research collapsed more than 5% and KLA was down more than 3%.
CarMax shares dropped more than 7% after the used car retailer missed profit and revenue expectations. Micron Technology shares slipped 3% on disappointing quarterly results, dragging down other chip stocks. One-time meme stock darling AMC dropped 16% after announcing a capital raise.
Micron shares fell about 4% after the semiconductor maker missed earnings estimates and said it’s facing dwindling demand for its products.
So far in December, the Dow is down 4.3%, while the S&P 500 has fallen 6% and NASDAQ tumbled 8.%. All three major averages are slated to break a three-year win streak and post their worst yearly performance since 2008.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gained slightly, lowering yields to 3.66% from Wednesday’s 3.67%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 14 cents to $78.15 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices staggered $19.60 to $1,805.80 U.S. an ounce.
Dow Slides Day After One-Day Pop
