The Toronto Stock Exchange slid deeper into the red Monday afternoon as the resource and technology sectors led broad declines.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 122.77 points to end Monday at 14,270.33
Despite trading in negative territory for the last three sessions, the benchmark index is up about 5.6% this year.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.08 cents at 91.15 cents U.S., as the Bank of Canada gave reason to feel optimistic about the economy with its latest business sentiment survey.
The quarterly survey of 100 companies showed that hiring intentions last month were among the most positive in almost two years amid higher sales and improved prospects, with an increasing number of companies reporting growth in
In corporate developments, the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. says it will have a new president and CEO starting in July. Bill Doyle will leave his position after leading efforts to thwart an attempted takeover of Canada's largest fertilizer producer by global mining giant BHP Billiton.
Doyle will be replaced by Jochen Tilk, a 30-year mining veteran who worked as chief executive of Toronto-based Inmet Mining.
Potash shares dropped $1.18, or 3.1%, to $37.12.
Magna International Inc. says it will spend $1.5 million on an expansion of its plant in Newmarket, Ont., and create 75 new jobs. Shares of the company fell $3.59, or 3.3%, to $104.83.
The health-care sector really suffered, as Valeant Pharmaceuticals toppled $5.45, or nearly 4%, to settle around $131.55.
The tech sector also got bruised, most notably BlackBerry, as the company once known as Research In Motion lost 16 cents, or 1.8%, to $8.61. Avigilon Corporation took a header of $1.59, or 5.4%, to $27.81.
Two European cement and construction materials producers are proposing a combination to create LafargeHolcim, which would have a combined $44 billion U.S. in annual revenues if the proposed "merger of equals" is completed.
Lafarge is Canada's largest producer of cement and concrete building materials while Holcim, based in Switzerland, has a smaller presence in this country but extensive holdings in emerging economies.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plunged 10.19 points to 996.97
All but two of the 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on the day, as health-care slipped 2%, information technology 1.9%, and industrials fell 1.4%.
The two gainers were in telecoms, ahead 0.4%, and utilities, inching up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Monday provided another downhill run for equities in New York, especially the NASDAQ, which is off about 1% after sliding a combined 3.6% on Thursday and Friday. The Dow and S&P are also sharply lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 166.84 points, or 1%, to close at 16,245.87. The S&P 500 lost 20.05 points to 1,845.04. The NASDAQ jettisoned 47.98 points to 4,079.75
The main explanation is that investors are rotating out of growth stocks, especially in the tech sector, and reinvesting into value stocks.
Tesla, Priceline.com and Baidu continued to drop today.
Even momentum names that tried to rally earlier today are now lower: Twitter and cybersecurity stock FireEye have gone negative.
The list of losing stocks also includes Apple, Google and Yahoo. Despite reports Yahoo may be looking to produce original content like Netflix, there was little love for the company.
As investors look for where to put their money, they turned to "old tech" names, such as IBM, Microsoft, Intel and Cisco.
Elsewhere in the market, drug makers were on the move. Shares of bellwether Pfizer are sliding, off nearly 3% today. Its breast cancer drug did well in tests, but the results may not have lived up to investor expectations.
It's better news for Agios Pharmaceuticals. The stock is up over 25% after the company reported promising results in the first clinical trial of its leukemia drug.
Questcor Pharmaceutical is soaring after Ireland's Mallinckrodt announced it would buy the autoimmune drug maker for $5.6 billion U.S.
Corporate earnings reports begin this week with Alcoa on Tuesday, and big banks JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo on Friday.
Earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to be down 1.2% in the first quarter, according to estimates from FactSet.
For all the doom and gloom, stock experts say the bull market still has room to run. Most expect the S&P 500 to gain 6.5% this year.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries gained, dropping yields to 2.70% from Friday’s 2.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped 60 cents to $100.54 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dipped $5.90 to $1,297.60 U.S. an ounce.
