Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, as weak oil prices dragged down energy shares, while investors digested the news that the Bank of Canada again chose to stand pat on interest rates.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 165.99 points, or 1%, to close Wednesday at 16,131.47
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.22 cents to 73.99 cents U.S.
Health-care issues took the brunt of investor wrath, as Bausch Health Companies faded 62 cents, or 2%, to $29.81, while Canopy Growth lost $3.08, or 5.1%, to $57.15.
Canada Goose Holdings plunged $19.45, or 29.2%, the most on the TSX, to $47.18, after the high-end winter clothing maker posted its slowest revenue growth in eight quarters and forecast even slower sales growth for the next three years.
Magna International dipped 87 cents, or 1.4%, to $59.48.
Tech companies had far from their shining hour, either, as BlackBerry backtracked 20 cents, or 1.8%, to $10.67, while Shopify got bruised $13.79, or 3.6%, to $367.63.
Energy tried to pick up some of the slack, as Imperial Oil gained 18 cents to $36.96, while Canadian Natural Resources gathered $1.47, or 4.2%, to $36.92.
Materials eked up, as Agnico Eagle Mines picked up 30 cents to $55.86.
Gold exhibited some strength, Barrick Gold picking up a penny to $15.89.
The Bank of Canada today maintained its target for the overnight rate at 1.75%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 2% and the deposit rate is 1.5%
A poll of economists showed on Friday that the central bank is done raising interest rates until at least the end of next year with economists pricing a 40% chance of a rate cut by the end of 2020.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange docked 1.6 points to 604.48.
All but three of the 12 Toronto subgroups were lower, with health-care subsiding 3.3%, consumer discretionary down 2.8%, and information technology sinking 2.3%.
The lone gainers were in energy, up 1.1%. materials, better by 0.4%. and gold, picking up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Wednesday as bond yields declined again, triggering concerns about the economic outlook. Increasing trade tensions in the China-U.S. trade fight also weighed on markets.
The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 216.62 points to 25,131.15, having briefly fallen more than 400 points as the 10-year Treasury note yield hit its low of the day.
The S&P 500 lost 19.37 points to 2,783.02
The NASDAQ Composite faded 60.04 points to 7,547.31
Bank shares fell along with yields. Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase both slid more than 0.2%. Citigroup dipped 0.1%. Shares of the three banks had dropped more than 1% earlier in the day.
Retailers dropped broadly on tariff concerns Wednesday. Abercrombie & Fitch shares plunged more than 26% after the company warned it same-store sales could be flat if tariffs remain unchanged. Dick’s Sporting Goods also fell 5.9%.
Stocks began their descent after a statement from special counsel Robert Mueller, but traders said it was unclear if anything he said weighed on the market.
Mueller said: “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
Washington and Beijing have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of one another’s goods since the start of 2018, battering financial markets and souring business and consumer sentiment.
In the latest move, China made a veiled threat this week through state media regarding rare earth minerals, a market crucial to the U.S. technology and defense industries which China dominates.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, raising yields back to Tuesday’s 2.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices subtracted 24 cents to $58.90 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $2.70 to $1,279.80 U.S. an ounce.
