Markets in Toronto took firm steps downward Tuesday, as health-care and tech stocks took separate beatings.
The S&P/TSX fell 68.87 points to finish Tuesday at 16,798.33
The Canadian dollar regained 0.08 cents at 75.51 cents U.S.
Health-care dragged the index lower, as Cronos Group plummeted $1.17, or 8.6%, to $12.38, while Aurora Cannabis dropped 39 cents, or 5.8%, to $6.33
Tech shares got clobbered, particularly BlackBerry, left black and blue $2.26, or 22.8%, to $7.67, while Shopify sank $25.83, or 6.2%, to $389.69.
Among energy concerns, Ensign Energy slipped 31 cents, or 9.3%, to $3.01, while Birchcliff Energy stumbled 18 cents, or 7.6%, to $2.19
Gold tried to even things out, as OceanaGold shares traveled 20 cents, or 5.5%, to $3.83, while Detour Gold flew 87 cents, or 4%, to $22.46, while Alacer Gold gained 21 cents, or 3.9%, to $5.63.
In consumer staples, Empire Company acquired 78 cents, or 2.2%, to $36.77, while Maple Leaf Foods gained 50 cents, or 1.7%, to $30.65.
Communications moved upwards, largely on the strength of Cineplex, which captured 81 cents, or 3.3%, to $25.58, while Quebecor climbed 45 cents, or 1.5%, to $31.20
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange deleted 6.54 points to 583.44
The 12 Toronto subgroups were evenly divided, as health-care plunged 4.3%, information technology scaled back 2.8%, and energy dipped 1.9%
The half-dozen gainers were led by gold, up 1.1%, while consumer staples sprang forward 0.8%, and communications moved up 0.4%
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks were whipsawed on Tuesday by worries about President Donald Trump’s political future.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 142.22 points to 26,807.77
The S&P 500 dropped 25.18 points to 2,966.50, its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 23
The NASDAQ Composite slumped 118.83 points, or 1.5%, to 7,993.63, also, its worst day in a month.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will announce a formal impeachment inquiry later on Tuesday after she meets with her caucus to discuss the call Trump had earlier this year with Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, where he allegedly pressured him to investigate Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s family.
A spokesman for the former vice president said Biden will urge Trump to comply with congressional requests for information. The spokesman added that Biden thinks Congress has no choice but to impeach Trump if he does not comply.
Netflix was among the worst-performing stocks on Tuesday. The streamer’s shares dropped more than 4% after several Wall Street analyst raised concern over the company’s earnings.
Bank shares also fell broadly as Citigroup slid 2.4% while Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase both pulled back more than 1%.
On the data front, consumer confidence for September slipped to 125.1 from 135.1 in August. Economists expected a dip to 133.5.
News reports circulated Tuesday that China granted new waivers to several companies exempting them from tariffs on at least two million tons of U.S. soybeans. The report added some companies have already bought about 1.2 million tons of soybeans.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also confirmed trade talks between the world’s two largest economies would resume next month. In media interviews, Mnuchin said negotiators from the U.S. and China had made some progress in last week’s deputy-level meetings.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 1.66% from Monday’s 1.72%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices sank $1.57 to $57.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices regained eight dollars to $1,539.50 U.S. an ounce.
