Stocks all over North America took their lumps, Canadian indexes collapsing on weakness by health-care and energy sectors.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index tumbled 152.41 points to end Thursday at 16,018.65.
The Canadian dollar inched up 0.04 cents at 74.57 cents U.S.
Pretty much all sectors got hammered Thursday. Among health-care issues, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals dropped $3.55, or 15.9%, to $18.73, while Cronos Group lost 40 cents, or 4.5%, to $8.53.
Energy stocks took it in the chops, as Canadian Natural Resources slipped 99 cents, or 3.9%, to $24.18, while Suncor ditched 84 cents, or 3.5%, to $23.12.
In the gold sector, Alacer Gold dipped 41 cents, or 4%, to $9.90, while B2Gold suffered a loss of 33 cents, or 3.7%, to $8.69.
Consumer staples rolled on, though, with Empire Company chugging ahead $1.95, or 5.8%, to $35.48, while Jamieson Wellness sprinted 61 cents, or 1.7%, to $37.34.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plunged 13.6 points, or 2%, to 680.20.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were on the downside looking up, with health-care sinking 3.7%, energy down 2.3%, and gold off 1.5%.
Only consumer staples held out against the negative tide, up 0.8%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell in volatile trading on Thursday as Microsoft and Apple led the broader market lower and traders pored through disappointing unemployment data.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 353.31 point, or 1.3%, to 26,652.38, after three straight days of gains.
The S&P 500 let go of 40.36 points, or 1.2%, to 3,235.66, snapping a four-day winning streak.
The NASDAQ lost 244.71 points, or 2.3%, to 10,461.42, as the selloff in major technology companies deepened.
Microsoft shares slipped 4.3% despite reporting better-than-expected earnings for the previous quarter. Though the company’s results were largely positive, Microsoft said its transactional license purchasing continued to slow and that subsidiary LinkedIn was negatively impacted by the weak job market.
Apple traded 4.5% lower, while Amazon and Netflix dropped 3.6% and 2.5%, respectively. Tesla, meanwhile, gave back its earlier gains and fell nearly 5% despite reporting earnings that blew past analyst expectations. Elon Musk’s automaker also said it’s set “for a successful second half” and reiterated its goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles this year.
U.S. weekly jobless claims came in at 1.416 million for last week, marking the 18th straight week in which initial claims totaled more than one million. Economists expected another 1.3 million workers to have filed initial claims for state unemployment benefits, according to Dow Jones.
This stalling in the labour market comes as lawmakers work on an additional stimulus package for those impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, sources told the media that Republicans were considering extending a $600-per-week unemployment benefit at a reduced rate of $100 per week. On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said an extension in unemployment benefits will be based on "approximately 70% wage replacement."
Wall Street’s attention was also on earnings announcements from several U.S. companies, but especially Microsoft and carmaker Tesla.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, weighing yields to 0.58% from Wednesday’s 0.60%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 77 cents to $41.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices brightened $17.60 to $1,882.70 U.S. an ounce.
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