The woes continued for equities in Toronto as losses by pot producer CannTrust Holdings weighed on the proceedings and worries over recession due to a prolonged U.S.-China trade war.
The S&P/TSX Composite slumped 103.57 points to close Monday at 16,237.77
The Canadian dollar subtracted 0.05 cents to 75.52 cents U.S.
CannTrust tumbled $1.17, or 27.8%, to the bottom of the main stock index at $3.04, after Health Canada found fault with cannabis production at a second facility.
Consumer discretionary stocks had the hardest fall of the day, as a subgroup, as The Stars Group tumbled $3.96, or 18.8%, to $17.16, and Canada Goose Holdings slid $2.16, or 3.7%, to $55.73.
Among energy stocks, Enerflex took the biggest knocks, $1.88, or 11.8%, to finish at $14.12, while Precision Drilling slumped 15 cents, or 8.2%, to $1.67.
In the financials category, ECN Capital swooned 27 cents, or 5.5%, to $4.68, while Alaris Royalty lost 56 cents, or 2.8%, to $19.60.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 1.87 points to 594.69
All 12 Toronto subgroups had turned negative by day’s end, with consumer discretionary backtracking 1.4%, energy down 1.3%, and financials off 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Monday as bond yields resumed their August descent, raising concerns about the state of the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 391 points, or 1.5%, to 25,896.44
The S&P 500 stepped back 35.95 points, or 1.2%, to 2,882.70
The NASDAQ stayed in the red 95.73 points, or 1.2%, to 7,863.41
Bank stocks declined as interest rates dived. Bank of America and Goldman Sachs both dropped more than 2%, while J.P. Morgan slid 1.9%.
Also hurting stocks were the intensified Hong Kong protests, which soured investor sentiment already aggravated by the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing. Hong Kong International Airport cancelled all departures for the remainder of the day, citing serious disruptions due to intensifying protests.
Trade bellwether Caterpillar fell 2.2% and Boeing declined more than 1%. Retailers, who are targeted in the latest round of China tariffs, are under pressure as Office Depot tanked 5.6% while Nordstrom slipped 2.4%.
The escalated U.S.-China trade war rattled the markets last week with the Dow posting a loss of 0.75%. Major stock averages suffered their worst days of the year on Aug. 5 after China allowed its currency to drop against the dollar below a key level unseen since 2008.
The intensified tensions caused Goldman Sachs to lower its fourth-quarter growth forecast by 20 basis points to 1.8% as the firm no longer expects a trade deal before the 2020 election.
Bank of America on Monday raised chance of a recession to more than 30% in the next 12 months as the firm believes many economic indicators are "flashing yellow."
The People’s Bank of China on Monday set its daily midpoint for yuan trading at 7.0211 per dollar, the third consecutive session below the psychological level of seven per dollar. It was also weaker than Friday’s session, but beat market expectations.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury rose sharply, dropping yields to 1.64% from Friday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices gained 29 cents to $54.79 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $14.40 to $1,522.90 U.S. an ounce.
