The TSX fell hard Monday, as it continues to take a hit from dropping commodity prices and from fears over a looming full-blown recession for Canada.
The S&P/TSX composite index surrendered 217.29 points, or 1.5%, to close Monday at 14,497.14
The Canadian dollar fell 0.14 cents at 76.93 cents U.S.
Gold took the hardest hit on the day, as Torex Gold Resources plunged 21 cents, or 19.8%, to 85 cents, while Barrick Gold fell $1.82, or 16%, to $ 9.58. Barrick was also the most actively traded stock, dealing in 5.5 million shares.
Energy issues also had a rough go of it, with Athabasca Oil chucking 16 cents, or 9.1%, to $1.60, while RMP Energy loosed 18 cents, or 8.9%, to $1.84.
Among metals and mining stocks, Capstone Mining faded seven cents, or 6.3%, to $1.05, while Teck Resources dropped 67 cents, or 5.9%, to $10.62.
The one ray of hope came in health-care stocks, with Valeant Pharmaceuticals picking up $5.43, or 1.8%, to $311.94.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade decreased 1.0% to $54.5 billion in May, following two consecutive increases. Lower sales in four sub-sectors, which together represented 65% of wholesale sales, accounted for the decline.
Excluding the motor vehicle and parts sub-sector, wholesale sales declined 0.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange swooned 11.84 points to 616.97.
All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were to the negative, with gold off 11.1%, materials failing 6.3%, and energy down 3%.
The lone gainer was health-care, nosing ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed mildly higher on Monday, with the NASDAQ at another record, as investors digested earnings reports.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 13.96 points to 18,100.41.
The S&P 500 gained 1.64 points to 2,128.28,
The NASDAQ index gained another 8.72 points to 5,218.86, yet another all-time high.
Information technology led index gains, while energy fell more than 1% as the worst-performing sector in the S&P 500 as crude oil dipped below $50 U.S. a barrel for the first time since April 6. Exxon Mobil and Caterpillar were among the greatest decliners in the Dow Jones industrial average.
On Monday morning, Morgan Stanley said it earned an adjusted 79 cents U.S. per share, five cents above estimates, with revenue also above forecasts. The results were helped in part by strong growth in trading revenue.
Another tech giant, Apple, reports quarterly results after the close Tuesday. Shares of the iPhone maker jumped more than 2% in afternoon trade.
In other news, PayPal ended up 5.4% after briefly jumping more than 6.5% in its first day of trade as its own publicly traded company under the ticker "PYPL" today following separation from eBay. Shares of eBay reversed early losses to close up 2.4%.
IBM posted quarterly earnings after the close.
In other morning reports, Hasbro reported quarterly profit of 33 cents U.S. per share, four cents above estimates, with revenue well above consensus despite the impact of the stronger dollar.
Halliburton beat forecasts by 15 cents U.S. with adjusted quarterly profit of 44 cents U.S. per share, with revenue exceeding forecasts, as well. Like its peers, Halliburton saw a significant drop in drilling activity compared to a year earlier, but was helped by strength in its international profit margins.
No major economic reports came out Monday. About 130 S&P and Dow industrial names post quarterly results this week.
Prices for 10-year U.S. Treasuries were lower, spiking yields to 2.38% from Friday’s 2.35%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 96 cents a barrel to $49.93 U.S.
Gold prices tumbled $30.60 to $1,101.30 U.S. an ounce.
