Markets in Toronto pretty much caught the same flu their cousins stateside and the world over suffered Thursday, as tech stocks behaved as if made of lead.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index moved sharply lower, 134.41 points, to meet the closing bell at 14,212.75
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.83 cents at 74.19 U.S.
BlackBerry was among the principal stocks feeling around for the bruises, losing 36 cents, or 3.7%, to $9.28, while Constellation Software came down from the heavens $25.23, or 3%, to $825.48
Not a good day for consumer discretionary issues, either, as Canada Goose Holdings fell $2.76, or 4.6%, to $56.86, while Magna International settled $2.30, or 3.7%, to $59.57.
Among industrials, Air Canada was grounded 72 cents, or 2.8%, to $25.11, while Canadian National Railways backtracked $1.76, or 1.8%, to $98.76.
Gold tried to brighten things a bit, with Agnico Eagle Mines triumphing 79 cents, or 1.4%, to $55.60
In utilities, Hydro One poked ahead 13 cents to $20.22.
Communications tried to put a positive spin on things, too, as Rogers Communications added 50 cents to $70.00.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 7.49 points, or 1.3%, to 578.49
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative on the day, with information technology tunneling 3.7%, consumer discretionary stocks sliding 2%, and industrials off 1.9%.
The three gainers were gold, utilities and communications, each up 0.3%
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Thursday following a dire quarterly warning from Apple and the release of weaker-than-expected manufacturing data. The iPhone maker blamed a slowing Chinese economy for the shortfall, intensifying fears that the global economy may be slowing down.
The Dow Jones Industrials Index plunged 659.82, or 2.8%, to finish Thursday at 22,686.42, as Apple led the decline.
The S&P 500 docked 62.14 points, or 2.5%, to 2,447.89, as the tech sector fell 4.4%
The NASDAQ Composite withered 202.43 points, or 3%, to 6,463.50, as Apple’s stock dropped 9.3%
A weaker-than-expected economic reading on manufacturing sent the Dow to its lows of the day. ISM’s manufacturing index fell to 54.1 in December. economists polled by Refinitiv expected 57.9.
Apple said it sees first-quarter revenue of $84 billion vs. a previous guidance of a range of $89 billion and $93 billion. Analysts expected revenue of $91.3 billion for the period.
Apple blamed most of the revenue shortfall for struggling business in China. But the company also said that upgrades by customers in other countries were "not as strong as we thought they would be."
Apple’s warning also dragged down other companies that do big business in China. Chip stocks Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Skyworks and Qorvo all dropped in trading on the Apple warning. Skyworks lost more than 11%.
Caterpillar shares were down more than 3%. Boeing shares dropped 3.8%.
Shares of Delta Air Lines fell more than 8% after the company issued slightly lower revenue guidance for the fourth quarter. Delta’s downturn dragged American Airlines which dropped 6.7%, while United Continental, pulled back 4.7%.
Biotechnology stocks bucked the overall negative trend in the market, led by a 22% surge in Celgene. The company’s stock rose after it agreed to be bought by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $74 billion.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury enjoyed sharp gains, lowering yields to 2.56% from Wednesday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recovered 57 cents to $47.11 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices spiked $11.80 at $1,296.60 U.S. an ounce.
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