Stocks in Canada's largest market followed their American cousins downward at the start of business Tuesday, as U.S. President Trump shook things with a variety of comments on trade and international relations.
The TSX Composite Index dropped 99.56 points, to begin Tuesday 16,881.91
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.01 to 75.15 cents U.S.
Bank of Montreal beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by strength in its domestic personal and commercial banking unit.
Shares in the “First Canadian Bank” tumbled $2.94, or 2.9%, to $97.77
British gold miner Centamin Plc on Tuesday rejected a 1.47-billion-pound ($1.89-billion U.S.) all-stock takeover proposal from Canada's Endeavour Mining Corp, saying it did not offer enough value to Centamin shareholders.
Endeavour shares gave back 89 cents, or 3.5%, to $24.90.
Private equity firm Catalyst Capital Group’s unsolicited bid for Hudson's Bay Co is not "superior" to an agreed-upon deal with a consortium led by its executive chairman. Bay shares sank 58 cents, or 6%, to $9.16.
BMO cut the target price on Continental Gold to $5.50 from $8.50. Continental Gold dipped four cents to $5.35.
BMO cut the target price on Roots Corp. to $3.00 from $4.00. Roots lost a penny to $2.18.
Scotiabank cuts target price on Semafo to $5.00 from $6.50. Semafo slid seven cents, or 2.5%, to $2.73.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 2.62 points to 535.93
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were negative at the start of Tuesday, as energy skidded 1.7%, while consumer discretionary and financial stocks each lost 1.2%.
The two gainers were gold, up 3.2%, and materials, improving 1.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials staggered 417.93 points, or 1.5%, to lead off Tuesday at 27,365.11, led lower by trade-vulnerable Apple, Caterpillar and 3M.
The S&P 500 fell 39.16 points, or 1.3%, to 3,074.71, amid losses in chip stocks like Nvidia, Micron and Advanced Micro Devices.
The NASDAQ plunged 110.94 points, or 1.3%, to 8,457.04
Markets hit their lows of their day after Fox News reported that the White House still plans on moving ahead with scheduled Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods notwithstanding recent efforts at a "phase-one" trade truce.
Some stock of companies with higher-than-average overseas sales exposure underperformed the broader market: Caterpillar slid 2.6%, Intel dropped 2.4% and Apple lost 2.5%.
Washington and Beijing have been haggling over a "phase-one" trade deal over the past several weeks, an effort seen by many investors as an attempt at a sort-of truce until the globe’s two largest economies can agree on a longer-term relationship.
Both sides have introduced tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of imports as the disagreement escalated over the last year; additional U.S. tariffs are set to take effect on Dec. 15.
Trump also ratcheted up economic barbs with French President Emmanuel Macron for comments he made disparaging NATO and the European country’s new digital-services tax, which was signed into law in July.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury darted higher, lowering yields to 1.73% from Monday’s 1.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 32 cents at $55.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $14.40 to $1,483.60 U.S. an ounce.
