North American markets racked up sharp losses Tuesday morning amid growing concern that the U.S. Federal Reserve could move sooner than thought on hiking interest rates
The S&P/TSX composite index collapsed 212.73 points, or 1.4%, to close Tuesday at 14,641.76
The Canadian dollar demurred 0.49 cents to 78.86 cents U.S.
The energy sector backed off, as Imperial Oil dipped 44 cents, or 1%, to $46.02, and Canadian Natural Resources fell 25 cents, to $36.41.
The base metals component fell as May copper fell four cents to $2.63 U.S. a pound. Teck Resources stepped back 49 cents, or 2.7%, to $17.44, while Sherritt International lost 10 cents, or 4.6%, to $2.06.
Financials were also a major weight, as TD gave back 99 cents, or 1.8%, to $53.23, and Royal Bank fell $1.28, or 1.7%, to $75.65.
The gold sector lost ground while Goldcorp faltered 21 cents to $23.22, and Barrick Gold eased two cents to $13.57.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jettisoned 11.18 points to 669.50
All 14 Toronto subgroups were lower on the day, as metals and mining turned down 3.4%, their cousins in global base metals suffering 2.6%, while materials were off 1.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded sharply lower on Tuesday, pressured by a surge in the dollar and some weakness in oil.
The Dow Jones Industrials regressed 332.78 points, or 1.9%, to 17,641.76, wiping out gains for the year
The S&P 500 fell 35.27 points, or 1.7%, to 2,044.16, also trading in the red for the year
The NASDAQ index weakened 82.64 points, or 1.7%, to 4,859.80.
On this day in 2000, the NASDAQ set its all-time closing and intraday highs of 5,048.60 and 5,132.50, respectively.
After the bell on Monday, chipmaker Qualcomm announced a 14% dividend hike to 48 cents per share as well as a $15-billion U.S. stock buyback program.
Credit Suisse has named Prudential chief Tidjane Thiam as its new chief executive officer. His appointment will become effective at the end of June, when current CEO Brady Dougan will step down.
UBS upgraded Hewlett-Packard to buy from neutral, noting a recent pullback in the stock's price and CEO Meg Whitman's upgrade of the executive team.
Urban Outfitters reported quarterly profit of 60 cents U.S. per share, two cents above estimates, with revenue in line. Comparable store sales were up 6% for the quarter, better than the 2% reported for the full year. Urban's rise in comparable store sales was its first in a year.
Skyworks Solutions will join the S&P 500 after the closing of trading Wednesday. The semiconductor maker will replace PetSmart—which is being sold to private equity firm BC Partners—in the benchmark index.
American Eagle Outfitters, Analogic and Verifone are due to report earnings after the bell.
On the economic scene, U.S. wholesale inventories for January rose 0.3%, beating expectations for contraction.
Job openings for January at five million were the highest level in 14 years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said.
The NFIB small business index for February was an encouraging 98.0, little changed from January's 97.9 but above the key level of 96 that experts recommended as a benchmark.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries rose sharply, lowering yields to 2.13% from Monday’s 2.20%. Treasury prices and yields tend to move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell $1.37 to $48.63 U.S.
Gold prices faded $6.30 to $1,160.30 U.S.
