Stocks throughout North America experienced a selling jag, investors in Canada proving no exception, with health and tech stocks bruised Friday.
The TSX Composite dumped 209.89 points, or 1%, to close Friday trading at 21,900.22. On the week, the index tumbled 364 points, or 1.64%.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.47 cents at 72.59 cents U.S.
Among health-care issues feeling for the bruises, Tilray sank 10 cents, or 3.8%, to $2.51, while Bausch Health Companies were hammered 30 cents, or 2.4%, to $11.98.
In tech stocks, Bitfarms drooped 13 cents, or 5%, to $2.49, while Converge Technology Solutions dissolved 23 cents, or 4.2%, to $5.30.
Rogers weighed heaviest on communications, ducking $1.33, or 2.5%, to $52.25, while Telus dished off 37 cents, or 1.7%, to $21.76.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange erased 3.57 points to 587.71, to hang onto weekly gains of 3.4 points, or 0.58%.
All 12 TSX subgroups were negative, with health-care down 1.8%, information technology, off 1.6%, and communications sliding 1.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks sold off Friday, as inflation and geopolitical worries once again dented investor sentiment on Wall Street. A broad decline in major bank shares also weighed on the market.
The Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 475.18 points, or 1.2%, to finish Friday at 37,983.90
The S&P 500 index subtracted 75.66 points, or 1.5%, to 5,123.40.
The NASDAQ dumped 267.10 points, or 1.6%, to 16,175.09.
The broad market index was down 1.6%, and 30-stock Dow gave up 2.4%. Meanwhile, the tech-heavy NASDAQ was nearly 0.5% lower for the week.
JPMorgan Chase shares declined more than 6% after the banking giant posted its first-quarter results. The bank said net interest income, a key measure of what it makes through lending activities, could be a little short of what Wall Street analysts are expecting in 2024. CEO Jamie Dimon also warned about persistent inflationary pressures weighing on the economy.
Wells Fargo slipped 0.8% after reporting its latest quarterly figures. Citigroup dropped more than 1% despite posting a revenue beat.
Oil prices continued their rise on reports that Israel is preparing for a direct attack by Iran this weekend, in what would be the biggest escalation of tensions in the region since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war last October. U.S. crude was last at $87.05 a barrel.
That, coupled with fresh U.S. imports data, added fuel to inflation concerns that have put pressure on the market.
Consumers are also growing worried about the persistent inflationary pressures. The consumer sentiment index for April came in at 77.9, below the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 79.9, according to the University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers. Year-ahead and long-run inflation expectations also ticked up, reflecting frustrations over sticky inflation.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rallied, lowering yields to 4.51% from Thursday’s 4.57%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices picked up 56 cents to $85.88 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gave up earlier gains and ended up forfeiting $12.70 to $2,360 U.S. an ounce.
