Canada's main stock was set for its biggest weekly drop since the pandemic-driven market rout in March 2020, and things didn’t improve much on Friday. Readings went sharply south before noon EDT.
The S&P/TSX shed initial gains and lost 84.11 points to stop for lunch at 18,919.95.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.57 cents to 76.62 cents U.S.
Health-care shares rose 2.3%, supported by gains in Cronos Group, up 14 cents, or 4.1%, to $3.59, while Aurora Cannabis captured 12 cents, or 7.2%, to $1.72. Tilray Brands tallied 16 cents, or 3.9%, to $4.19.
In the technology sector, Lightspeed
Commerce surged $1.54, or 6%, to $27.34.
Bausch Health Companies rose 28 cents, or 3%, to $9.68, even as it suspended plans for the initial public offering of its unit Solta Medical due to challenging market conditions.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported Canadian investors purchased a record $29.2 billion of foreign securities in April, after a $46.2 billion divestment in the first quarter of 2022.
At the same time, the agency says, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities totaled $22.2 billion, led by investment in new bonds denominated in foreign currencies.
Elsewhere, StatsCan’s Industrial Product Price Index rose by 1.7% month over month in May and by 15.0% compared with May of last year.
The agency’s Raw Materials Price Index increased 2.5% on a monthly basis in May, posting a 37.4% year-over-year increase.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 2.97 points to 636.58.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups moved higher, led by health-care, ahead 2.7%, while information technology and communications each surged 1.9%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, tumbling 6.3%, while utilities let go of 0.8%, and materials weakened 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slipped on Friday as Wall Street attempted to find its footing after a brutal week of selling.
The Dow Jones Industrials decreased 110.66 points to 29,816.41.
The Dow briefly bounced above the 30,000 mark after falling below that level on Thursday for the first time since January 2021. The 30-stock average is down 5% for the week, on track for its 11th negative week in 12.
The S&P 500 dropped 4.76 points to 3,662.01.
The broader index is down 6% and could be headed for its worst weekly performance since March 2020. All 11 of its sectors are at least 15% below their recent highs.
The NASDAQ Composite recovered 92.6 points to 10,738.70. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is down about 6% for the week.
Shares of Intel, Cisco and Salesforce jumped more than 1% on Friday, bringing the Dow slightly higher. All major sectors moved lower on Friday, with the exception of health-care, which traded marginally higher.
Beaten-up tech shares staged a short rally on Friday, with shares of Tesla, Amazon and Netflix up 1%. Travel stocks Airbnb, Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line added about 1% each.
The moves come as investors are increasingly worried about a potential economic slowdown. Several key pieces of economic data fell short of forecasts this week, ranging from May retail sales to housing starts. Additionally, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by the most since 1994.
Market volatility could be heightened Friday thanks to “quadruple witching.” This refers to the simultaneous expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.
This event happens once a quarter and typically leads to a surge in trading volume, making for choppy trading action as traders close out positions.
Treasury prices re-strengthened, lowering yields to 3.21% from Thursday’s 3.25%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid $6.05 to $111.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faltered $5.80 to $1,844.10 U.S. an ounce.
