Losses accelerated on the Toronto stock market during the early afternoon as a partial U.S. government shutdown, in its third day, showed no signs of ending and traders worried that the U.S. is headed for a big economic shock later this month.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 103.88 to finish Thursday at 12,735.12
The Canadian dollar recovered 0.09 cents to 96.84 cents U.S.
The metals and mining sector declined as December copper lost five cents to $3.27 U.S. a pound. First Quantum Minerals ticked 74 cents lower to $17.87.
The tech sector also weighed on the TSX with BlackBerry down 30 cents to $7.97. BlackBerry says its latest device will arrive in Canada later this month, but it won't have the support of Rogers Communications, which has decided not to stock the new device, after a longtime relationship with BlackBerry on all of its major products.
The industrials group was down as Canadian Pacific Railway fell 98 cents to $128.78.
Telecoms also weighed with BCE Inc. down 41 cents to $43.51.
The energy group was down as Talisman Energy lost 30 cents to $12.52.
The gold sector was off while Barrick Gold was down 35 cents to $18.67.
The health care segment was positive and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. was ahead $1.53 to $114.91 after it said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new Bausch + Lomb disposable contact lens sooner than expected. Bausch + Lomb was acquired by Valeant for about $8.7 billion U.S. in August.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 3.52 points to 945.44
All 14 Toronto subgroups ended lower on the day, weighed mostly by metals and mining, losing 2.4%, global base metals, down 1.6%, and utilities, 1.5% to the bad.
ON WALLSTREET
A selloff in stocks accelerated Thursday, with the major indexes declining about 1% as Washington remains paralyzed and the nation approaches the deadline for raising the U.S. debt ceiling.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 136.66 points to close at 14,967.90
The S&P 500 index dipped 15.23 points to 1,678.64. The NASDAQ plummeted 40.68 points to 3,774.34
Meetings at the White House between congressional leaders and President Obama have failed to produce a breakthrough, and the government has entered its third day of a shutdown. That's making investors jittery. The Dow and S&P 500 have dropped for eight of the past 10 trading days.
Tesla's stock continued to fall Thursday after a fiery crash near Seattle, Wash., sparked concerns about the safety of the car maker's Model S sedan. Tesla said the fire happened after the car crashed into a "large metallic object."
Shares of Angie's List tumbled 14% on concerns that the customer review site is hitting a rough patch. The company's chief technology officer left abruptly last week and now the website has drastically reduced its membership prices. Other Internet stocks that have been red hot lately, such as Priceline, Yahoo, Netflix and Facebook, pulled back Thursday too.
Shares of Taser, maker of the eponymous stun gun, fell sharply too. The company, citing a "tight budgetary environment," has cut in half the price of its portable Axon Flex camera, used by police officers.
Herbalife shares are down almost 7%, even though hedge fund manager Bill Ackman disclosed he recently restructured his short position on the nutritional supplement company to lessen his risk. The stock has more than doubled this year, making Ackman's bet a huge loser on paper.
United Technologies shares were down after the defense contractor announced that it would likely furlough 2,000 workers starting next week, due to the government shutdown. About 800,000 federal employees have already been furloughed.
Economically speaking, about 308,000 people filed initial claims for unemployment benefits last week, up 1,000 from the prior week, the government reported Thursday morning. The U.S. Department of Labor's contingency plan allows for the release of the weekly jobless claims report during a shutdown.
The overall initial claims figure remains near its lowest level since 2007 -- an encouraging sign that layoffs are back to pre-recession levels.
Prices for the 10-year U.S. Treasury strengthened, lowering yields to 2.61% from Wednesday’s 2.63%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices retreated $1.09 to $103.01 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $2.70 at $1,317.80 U.S. an ounce.
