Canada's main stock index fell hard on Monday, as a slide in commodity prices weighed on energy and mining shares, while investors focused on U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting later this week.
The S&P/TSX Composite jettisoned 154.99 points, by noon Monday to 20,607.01.
The Canadian dollar moved down 0.22 cents to 77.57 cents U.S.
Energy was the main anchor around the markets Monday, with Secure Energy Services collapsing 38 cents, or 5.8%, to $6.21, while Whitecap Resources lost 50 cents, or 4.8%, to $10.03.
Health-care issues (primarily cannabis issues) did their best to lift the index higher, as Canopy Growth muscled 25 cents, or 3.4%, to $7.60, while Tilray gained 18 cents, or 2.8%, to $6.58.
On the economic front, Markit Canada’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index registered at 56.2 in April, down from March's survey-record high of 58.9.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 19.42 points, or 2.4%, to 795.01
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups had lost ground midday, with energy swooning 2.3%, real-estate down 2.2%, and materials lower 1.5%.
The three gainers were health-care, haler by 0.7%, information technology progressing 0.6%, and consumer staples, up 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks swung between gains and losses in volatile trading Monday as Wall Street tried to shake off a brutal month that saw the Nasdaq
Composite suffer its worst stretch since 2008.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave up earlier gains by noon and fell 96.79 points to 32,880.42.
The S&P 500 dipped 14.33 points to 4,117.60,
The NASDAQ Composite lost 3.92 points to 12,330.72.
The Dow and S&P 500 are coming off their worst month since March 2020, when the pandemic took hold. The Dow finished April 4.9% lower, while the S&P tanked 8.8%. The NASDAQ closed down 13.26% for its worst month since 2008.
Tech was a particular weak point in April, and some of the biggest names were struggling again on Monday. Shares of Amazon fell 2.7%, while Apple also slipped into the red.
Netflix, however, jumped 3.5%. Fellow streaming stock Disney rose more than 1%. Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet advanced about 1% each.
Industrial stock Honeywell was a big winner for the Dow, rising 3.5%. Intel and Home Depot rose more than 2% each.
In corporate news, Spirit Airlines announced that it was rejecting a takeover offer from JetBlue in favor of a less lucrative deal with Frontier, citing “an unacceptable level of closing risk.” Shares of Spirit dropped more than 7%.
Earnings season is now more than halfway finished, but a number of companies are set to post results in the coming week, including a host of consumer-focused restaurant and travel companies.
Expedia, MGM Resorts, Pfizer, Airbnb, Starbucks, Lyft, Marriott, Yum Brands, Uber eBay and TripAdvisor are just some of the names on deck
Of the more than 280 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 80% have beat earnings estimates with 73% topping revenue expectations.
Treasury prices shuttled lower, raising yields to -2.99% from Friday’s 2.92%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slipped 91 cents to $103.78 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices got whacked $44.30 to $1,867.40 U.S. an ounce.
