Stocks left the dizzy heights they’d scaled this week, and dropped significantly on Thursday, as consumer stocks stumbled.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index faltered 47.24 points by the end of the session Thursday at 15,527.87
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.01 cents at 74.05 cents U.S.
Consumer staples led the downward trek, with Alimentation Couche-Tard falling $1.60, or 3.6%, to $42.65, while Saputo slipped 69 cents, or 2%, to $33.13.
Tech shares went south, with Shopify tumbling $42.03, or 4.1%, to $987.30, while Lightspeed POS lost $1.37, or 3.9%, to $33.56.
In the consumer discretionary sector, Canadian Tire shed $4.92, or 3.9%, to $122.01, while Canada Goose Holdings fell 94 cents, or 2.8%, to $33.29.
Real-estate issues climbed, though, as Brookfield Property Partners picked up 85 cents, or 5.6%, to $16.16, while Cominar REIT acquired 28 cents, or 3.5%, to $8.20.
Energy stocks also did their bit to keep things afloat on the market, with Secure Energy Systems lifted 35 cents, or 2.8%, to $1.60. Shawcor gained 30 cents, or 16.7%, to $2.10.
Health-care stocks also surged, particularly, HEXO, up seven cents, or 7.5%, to $1.01, while Cronos Group tacked on 31 cents, or 3.6%, to $9.02.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.63 points to end the day at 562.41.
The 12 TSX subgroups were evenly divided, with consumer staples and information technology each subsiding 1.7%, while consumer discretionary stocks faded 1.4%.
The half-dozen gainers were led by real-estate, ahead 1.6%, while energy and health-care each vaulted 1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were lower on Thursday, giving back some of the strong gains for June, as Wall Street grappled with disappointing jobs data and a late-day selloff in tech shares.
The Dow Jones Industrials eked up 11.93 points to end Thursday at 26,281.82.
The S&P 500 remained in the red 10.52 points to 3,112.35.
The NASDAQ fell 67.1 points to 9.615.81. It was the first decline in five sessions for both indexes.
The major averages are still up on track for solid weekly gains despite Thursday’s drop. The Dow is up 3.5% week to date while the S&P 500 has gained 2.2%. The NASDAQ has advanced 1.3% this week.
Shares of companies that benefit from the economy recovering outperformed on Thursday. American Airlines rallied more than 41%. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America advanced more than 1% each. MGM Resorts gained 7.5%.
Shares of major tech companies pressured the broader market. Facebook and Netflix both dropped more than 1.6%. Amazon closed 0.7% lower while Alphabet and Apple were down by more than 0.8% each.
Since bottoming out in March, Amazon shares have rallied nearly 30% since March 23 while PepsiCo is up 24%. Costco has gained over 8% in that time and PayPal is up more than 81%.
The Labor Department said 1.877 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, topping a Dow Jones estimate of 1.775 million. Continuing jobless claims rose sharply, nearly reaching 21.5 million. The data was released a day ahead of the department’s monthly jobs report.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury fell sharply, raising yields to 0.82% from Wednesday’s 0.75%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $37.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $17.90 to $1,722.70 U.S. an ounce.
