The Toronto stock market sold off for a second day Tuesday as investors ditched energy stocks while crude oil moved well below the key $50 U.S. a barrel mark.
The S&P/TSX composite index stumbled 145.93 points, or 1%, to close out Tuesday at 14,246.77
The Canadian dollar lost 0.51 cents to 84.52 cents U.S.
The plunge in oil prices has also forced oil producers and oilfield service companies to cut their capital expenditure plans for next year. Crescent Point Energy was the latest company to announce such plans.
On Tuesday, the Calgary company said it has reduced its capital expenditures from 2014 guidance by 28% to $1.45 billion. Crescent Point said 2015 daily production should average the equivalent of 152,500 barrels per day, up 9% and its shares gained 21 cents to $25.07.
Other sectors have also been under selling pressure as investors also consider the wider economic effects of the collapse in oil prices, with the financial group down, as TD dipped 81 cents, or 1.5%, to $53.13, and Scotiabank settled 79 cents, or 1.2%, to $63.50.
Consumer staples declined as Metro fell $1.00 to $89.93, and the industrial sector gave back some of its strength, as Bombardier fell six cents to $4.05.
The base metals group slipped while March copper was unchanged at $2.77 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources shares gained seven cents to $15.64
One saviour, as it were, proved to be in the gold sector, where Barrick Gold soared 52 cents, or 4.1%, to $13.33, and Goldcorp galloped $1.80, or 8.1%, to $24.00.
On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported this morning that its Industrial Product Price Index dropped 0.4% in November, mainly because of lower prices for energy and petroleum products.
The agency’s Raw Materials Price Index declined 5.8% in November, mostly due to lower prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange shed 8.39 points to 685.60
In all, nine of the 14 Toronto subgroups were negative on the day, most notably consumer staples, down 2.7%, energy, fading 1.8%, and health-care, 1.6% less hale.
The five gainers were led by gold, up 5.9%, materials, ahead 3.1%, and global base metals, up 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks recovered a sizable portion of their losses on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 back above 2,000 after falling below the level for the first time in nearly four weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 130.01 points to 17,371.64, with JPMorgan Chase pacing losses that included 18 of 30 components.
The S&P 500 dropped 17.97 points to 2,002.61, with financials falling the most and telecommunications the best performing of its 10 major industry groups.
The NASDAQ index fell 59.83 points to 4,592.74.
Energy companies remained in the red as investors fretted the implications of crude's failure to find a floor, with crude prices on Tuesday falling another 4.2% and closing below $48 U.S. a barrel.
Newmont Mining rallied with the price of gold; Michael Kors Holdings dropped sharply after Credit Suisse Group downgraded the handbag maker.
Economically speaking, factory orders fell 0.7% in November versus a forecast of a 0.8% dip.
The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index declined to 56.2 last month from 59.3 in November.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries hiked, lowering yields to 1.96% from Monday’s 2.04%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.85 per barrel to $48.19 U.S.
Gold prices gained $12.30 an ounce at $1,218.30 U.S.
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