TSX Down 100+

Stocks in Canada followed their American cousins down the scale Wednesday, with tech and health-care assuming most of the downward momentum.

The TSX slid 100.93 points to close Wednesday at 18,320.67

The Canadian dollar was off 0.06 at 79.08 cents U.S.

Tech stocks took a pounding Wednesday, with Absolute Software tumbling $1.33, or 6.7%, while Docebo handed back $4.23, or 7.3%, to $53.76.

In health-care, Aurora Cannabis slid 70 cents, or 5%, to $13.23, while Canopy Growth slumped $2.41, or 5.4%, to $42.06.

Gold also had a rough day, with Sandstorm Gold losing 35 cents, or 4.3%, to $7.75, while New Gold backed off nine cents, or 4.3%, to $2.03.

Energy tried to even things out, with Vermilion Energy up 47 cents, or 6%, to $8.37, while Canadian Natural Resources forged ahead $1.52, or 4.2%, to $37.72.

Consumer discretionary issues advanced, most notably, Sleep Country Canada, ahead $2.85, or 10.2%, to $30.85, while Spin Master scaled $2.79, or 7.8%, higher to $38.50.

In real-estate H&R REIT added 54 cents, or 3.9%, to $14.52, while Allied Properties REIT tacked on $1.38, or 3.5%, to $41.00.

On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada said January rang in 2021 with a record high total value of building permits issued, rising 8.2% to $9.9 billion and surpassing the previous record of $9.6 billion set in April 2019. These gains were driven primarily by the residential sector in January.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange plummeted 35.77 points, or 3.5%, to 991.98.

Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups pointed downward by the close, with information technology suffering 3.6%, health-care down 2.4%, and gold losing 2.3%.

The five gainers were led by energy, picking up 2.2%, consumer discretionary stocks, better by 1.5%, and real-estate, up 0.4%.

ON WALLSTREET

Tech stocks dragged down the S&P 500 on Wednesday amid rising bond yields, while names tied to an economic recovery provided the market with some support.

The Dow Jones Industrials ended a topsy-turvy day by losing 121.43 points to conclude trading Wednesday at 31,270.09.

The S&P 500 dumped 50.57 points, or 1.3%, to 3,819.72, weighed by tech and consumer discretionary issues.

The NASDAQ Composite swooned 361.03 points, or 2.7%, to 12,997.75, as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet all dropped more than 2%. Netflix shed 5%

Growing optimism over the vaccine rollout sparked a rally in cyclical stocks and reopening plays. American Airlines popped 3.4%, while Carnival acquired 3.9% and Norwegian Cruise Line jumped 6.3%. The energy sector rose 1.4%.

President Joe Biden said late Tuesday that the U.S. will have a large enough supply of coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate every adult in the nation by the end of May. That would be two months ahead of schedule. The vaccine rollout is seen as key part in getting Americans back to work and for the economy to recover.

On the data front, private companies added 117,000 new jobs in February, according to a report Wednesday from payroll processing firm ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect 225,000 private jobs were added last month.

Meanwhile, the pace of growth in the services side of the U.S. economy decelerated in February. The Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Index showed a reading of 55.3 for last month, down 3.4 percentage points from January and below the 58.7 Dow Jones estimate.

Prices for 10-Year Treasurys thundered lower, raising yields to 1.47% from Tuesday’s 1.41%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices jumped $1.48 to $61.23 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dropped $20.50 to $1,713.10.