A tumble in shares of energy companies pressured Canada's main stock index on Wednesday, as crude prices slumped to their lowest in seven months.
The S&P/TSX Composite docked 55.22 points to open Wednesday at 16.094.27
The Canadian dollar retreated 0.26 cents to 75.03 cents U.S.
Among declining energy companies, Nuvista Energy dropped 29 cents, or 11.2%, to $2.30, while Ensign Energy Services slipped 28 cents, or 7.8%, to $3.32.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were gold miners B2gold Corp, which jumped 62 cents, or 13.4%, to $5.25, and Semafo, which rose 60 cents, or 11.9%, to $5.64.
Alamos Gold’s CEO has told the media the company has pre-paid for the reforestation at its mine project in western Turkey amid growing criticism, adding that it was impossible for cyanide to leak into the environment as protesters fear.
Alamos shares gained 28 cents, or 2.9%, to $9.97.
Credit Suisse raised the price target on Endeavour Mining to $33.00 from $32.00. Endeavour shares gained 41 cents, or 1.5%, to $27.84.
RBC cut the price target on Guyana Goldfields to $1.50 from $1.75. Guyana shares picked up nine cent, or 7.3%, to $7.32
CIBC cut the price target on Western Forest Products to $1.50 from $1.75. Western Forest shares dipped three cents, or 2.3%, to $1.26.
On the economic front, Western University’s Ivey Purchasing Managers Index for July registered at 54.2 in July, compared to 52.4 in June, but still well below the 61.8 reading in August 2018
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 4.08 points to 598.77
All but two of the 12 Toronto subgroups were negative, as health-care stocks were sicker by 2.2%, energy docked 1.4%, and industrials lost 0.8%
The two gainers were gold, up 4.9%, and materials, better by 2.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell sharply on Wednesday, adding to the month’s steep losses, as a drop in global bond yields raised concerns about a slowing global economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials erased Tuesday’s gains, plummeting 357.43 points, or 1.4%, to 25,672.09
The S&P 500 fell 32.43 points, or 1.1%, to 2,848.34
The NASDAQ swooned 58.38 points to 7,774.89.
Bank stocks, including J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America, led the decline as they are the one sector with the most to lose from falling interest rates. J.P. Morgan shares slid 2.8% while Bank of America dropped 3.3%.
In corporate news, Disney shares slid on weaker-than-expected results for the previous quarter. Disney’s results were weighed down by increasing losses in streaming services such as Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+. The media giant also blamed the integration of Fox’s entertainment assets for the weak numbers. Disney shares traded down more than 5%.
Wednesday’s losses brought both the Dow and S&P 500 down more than 4% for the month. The NASDAQ was down 4.8% for August.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained sharply, dropping yields to 1.61% from Tuesday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices slid $1.49 to $52.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $25.70 to $1,509.90 U.S. an ounce.
