Futures tracking Canada's energy-heavy main stock index fell on Thursday as oil prices sank to a three-month low on the back of a surge in COVID-19 cases, with investors also worried about slowing global economic growth.
The TSX/S&P Composite fumbled 61.48 points to wind up Wednesday at 20,302.11
The Canadian dollar capsized 0.53 cents to 78.44 cents U.S.
September futures ducked 0.7% Thursday
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Altagas to $32.00 from $30.00
CIBC cut the rating on Fortis to neutral from outperform
National Bank of Canada reinstates Spartan Delta with an outperform rating
The head of Elections Canada said on Wednesday that the majority of mail-in ballots in the upcoming federal election will be counted after election day, delaying the final result.
Prosecutors said the defense of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou failed on facts and law, as hearings in their bid to extradite her to the United States finished on Wednesday.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 3.95 points Wednesday to 878.05
ON WALLSTREET
Stock futures retreated sharply Thursday as concern grew that the Federal Reserve could remove stimulus this year, slowing an economy hurt by the spread of the COVID Delta variant.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 325 points, or 0.9%, to 34,562.
The 30-stock index tanked by 380 points on Wednesday as the release of meeting minutes from the Fed’s gathering in July showed the central bank has started eyeing tapering its $120 billion in monthly bond purchases before the year-end.
Futures for the S&P 500 dropped 37 points, or 0.8%, to 4,357.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index handed back 105.75 points, or 0.7%, to 14,743.50.
For the week through Wednesday, the Dow and S&P 500 are each down 1.5%. The NASDAQ is lower by 2%.
Goldman Sachs cut its economic growth forecast for the current quarter to 5.5% from 9% Wednesday night, adding to the negative sentiment. The firm also sees higher inflation than expected for the rest of the year.
Stocks closely linked to the economy led losses in the pre-market. Steelmaker Nucor lost more than 3%. Oil companies Devon Energy and Occidental Petroleum shed roughly 3% and 4%, respectively.
Miner Freeport-McMoRan fell around 4%. General Motors fell about 2%. Reopening plays like airlines and hotels were also lower.
Robinhood shares tumbled 9% in pre-market trading after its first earnings report as a public company. The app warned investors that its third-quarter results could be affected by a slowdown in trading.
The Fed’s central bankers at their July meeting made plans to pull back the pace of their monthly bond purchases likely before the end of 2021, the minutes released Wednesday afternoon showed.
Investors will monitor new jobless claims data due Thursday morning. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect a total of 365,000 in the week ended Aug. 14, slightly below the total of 375,000 in the prior week.
Overseas, in Japan, the Nikkei 225 index toppled 1.1%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index let go of 2.1%.
Oil prices slumped $2.22 to $63.24 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices advanced $2.20 to $1,786.60 U.S. a pound.
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