Futures pointed to a lower opening for Canada's main stock index on Tuesday as the latest tariff threat on Chinese goods by the United States intensified a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 69.21 points to close Monday at 16,383.63
The Canadian dollar moved backward 0.45 cents to 75.29 cents U.S. early Tuesday
June futures stumbled 0.6% Tuesday
Credit Suisse raised the price target on Baytex Energy to $5.50 from $4.50
Desjardins raised the target price on Terago Inc. to $6.00 from $5.75
Canada's ruling Liberals suffered a setback on Monday when they lost a parliamentary seat in Quebec, where party officials say they need to pick up support to bolster their chances of retaining power in 2019.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange slid 2.16 points Monday to 752.24
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures fell sharply on Tuesday after President Donald Trump's latest threat to China increased fears of an impending trade war between the world's largest economies.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials rumbled 299 points, or 1.2%, to 24,717
S&P 500 futures lost 26 points or 0.9%, to 2,753.75, while futures for the NASDAQ composite index swooned 86.25 points, or 1.2%, to 7,189.75
Shares of some of the biggest chipmakers fell in the pre-market given their large exposure to China. Qualcomm, Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia all dropped at least 1%.
Ford Motor, which also does a large amount of business in China, saw its stock pull back about 1% before the bell. Meanwhile, Caterpillar and Boeing — considered two bellwethers for trade tensions on Wall Street —both dropped at least 1.3%.
Trump asked the United States Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs, at a rate of 10%. If China "refuses to change its practices" and insists on continuing with the new tariffs it recently declared, then the additional levies would be imposed on Beijing, Trump said Monday night.
Soon after, the Chinese Commerce Ministry issued a response, stating that the latest threat of more tariffs violates previous negotiations and consensus reached between both the U.S. and China. "The United States has initiated a trade war that violates market laws and is not in accordance with current global development trends," the ministry said.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 took a pounding, losing 1.8% Tuesday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 3.4%
Oil prices dropped 99 cents to $64.86 U.S. per barrel.
Gold prices stepped back $6.70 to $1,273.40 U.S. an ounce.
