Canada's main stock index fell on Thursday, as investors were worried that action from central banks and governments may not be sufficient to stave off a deep coronavirus-driven global recession.
The TSX Composite Index lost 101.68 points to open Thursday at 11,619.74
The Canadian dollar squirted ahead 0.12 cents at 69.25 cents U.S.
Husky Energy and Norwegian-based Equinor have decided to postpone the Bay du Nord project off Canada due to the fall in oil prices.
Husky shares jumped 23 cents, or 9.4%, to $2.63.
Canadian Natural Resources on Wednesday slashed its full-year capital expenditure budget by $1.09 billion due to weakness in oil prices, but maintained its output forecast. Natural Resources shares added 12 cents, or 1.1%, to $11.12.
Alimentation Couche-Tard beat quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday, helped by its home delivery options and store improvements including technology at checkout and new coffee machines. Couche-Tard screamed higher $2.72, or 8%, to $36.69.
Scotiabank cut the price target on AG Growth International to $35.00 from $53.00. AG shares stepped back four cents to $17.95.
Altacorp Capital raised the rating on Boyd Group Services to outperform from sector perform. Boyd gained 60 cents to $154.63.
Scotiabank cut the price target on Interfor to $16.00 from $19.50, Interfor picked up 36 cents, or 7.1%, to $5.40.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada new housing price index was up 0.4% at the national level in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 7.62 points, or 2.3%, to 331.18.
A rare sight this week; seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the green in the opening hour, with health-care racing 3.5%, consumer discretionary muscling up 3.3%, and consumer staples better by 2.9%.
The five laggards were weighed most by real-estate, sagging 3.9%, utilities, sinking 3.2%, and financials, off 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks rose on Thursday, erasing steep losses from earlier in the day as sharp gains in big-tech shares led to a sharp turnaround.
The Dow Jones Industrials regained 72.38 points, to open Thursday at 19,971.30.
The broader S&P 500 recovered 16.96 points to 2,415.06.
The NASDAQ jumped 176.25 points, or 2.5%, to 7,166.10.
Wall Street has been on an unprecedented roller-coaster ride amid the coronavirus turmoil, with the S&P 500 swinging 4% or more in either direction for eight consecutive sessions.
Shares of Netflix picked up 7.6% and Facebook rose 5.8%. Amazon gained 3.2%. Alphabet and Apple both traded more than 1% higher.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury jumped sharply, lowering yields to 1.08% from Wednesday’s 1.21%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $2.43 to $22.80 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices hiked $16.30 to $1,494.20 U.S. an ounce.
