Losses in energy and gold stocks on Tuesday pushed Canada's main stock index away from an all-time high, amid a global downturn in sentiment on concerns over a virus outbreak in China.
The TSX Composite Index ditched 51.39 points to begin Tuesday at 17,546
The Canadian dollar doffed 0.07 cents to 76.58 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada raised the target price on Boyd Group Services to $240.00 from $205.00. Boyd shares tacked on 51 cents each to $224.47.
National Bank of Canada cut the target price on Enerplus to $13.50 from $15.00. Enerplus shares handed back 25 cents, or 3%, to $8.15.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined 0.6% to $57.0 billion in November, the third consecutive monthly decrease.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange deducted 2.35 points to start Tuesday’s session at 583.56.
Six of the 12 TSX subgroups were in the red, with energy decreasing 1.2%, materials down 1%, and gold dulling in price 0.7%.
The five laggards were led upward by information technology, up 0.8%, utilities, advancing 0.3%, and communications, eking up 0.1%.
Health-care stocks were unchanged in the first hour.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Tuesday, the first trading day this week, as concerns around U.S.-China trade relations and a virus outbreak in China paused the market’s rally into record levels.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 31.7 points to begin a short week at 29,316.40
The S&P 500 deleted 6.29 points to 3,323.33
The NASDAQ erased 6.89 points to 9,382.05.
Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase were among the worst-performing stocks in the Dow, sliding 0.6% each. The S&P 500 was led lower by the materials and energy sectors.
Boeing is in talks with banks to borrow $10 billion amid the spiraling costs of two crashes involving its beleaguered 737 Max aircraft. Boeing shares rose 0.5%.
The Dow was headed for its first decline in six sessions while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were set to snap a three-day winning streak. U.S. markets were closed Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Concerns over a new strain of pneumonia in China also drove investors away from stocks. The outbreak of the new coronavirus in China has killed four people with confirmed cases exceeding 200 ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, during which hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel.
Late on Monday, Chinese authorities confirmed that the virus is contagious.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday downgraded its global economic growth forecast from 3.4% to 3.3% for 2020.
The U.S. economy is projected to grow by 2.0% this year, a downward revision of 0.1 percentage points compared with the IMF’s October 2019 forecast.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury gained, lowering yields to 1.79% from Friday’s 1.83%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 22 cents to $58.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $9.40 to $1,550.90 U.S. an ounce.
