Canada's main stock index opened lower on Monday as investors fled risky assets on growing fears about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China.
The TSX Composite Index plummeted 154.07 points to begin the week at 17,411.27
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.17 cents to 75.80 cents U.S.
Health-care concerns weighed most heavily as Cronos Group shed 30 cents, or 3%, to $9.69. Energy stocks waned, as Imperial Oil dropped 41 cents, or 1.2%, to $33.17.
Tech stocks also took a licking, as BlackBerry got bruised 46 cents, or 5.3%, to $8.22.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 5.27 points to 576.49
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative in the first hour, led by health-care, down 2.6%, energy, off 2.4%, and information technology, sliding 1.5%,
The two gainers were consumer staples, up 0.5%, and gold, ahead 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks tanked on Monday after more cases of the coronavirus were confirmed over the weekend, ratcheting up worries over the virus’ impact on the world economy.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 405.27 points, or 1.4%, to 28,584.46, led lower by Nike and American Express
The S&P 500 slumped 45.49 points at 3,249.47,
The NASDAQ slouched 160.6 points, or 1.7%, to 9,154.30.
There are 2,862 confirmed cases so far in China and the death toll in China has risen to 81. The World Health Organization’s director general is traveling to China to meet with government and health officials. In the U.S., a fifth case of coronavirus was confirmed over the weekend.
Airline stocks American and Delta both dropped more than 4%. United slid 5.7%. Gaming stocks such as Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts dropped 8.4% and 9.6%, respectively. MGM Resorts slid more than 5%.
Travel stocks Expedia, Carnival and Marriott International all pulled back at least more than 4%. Consumer shares with exposure to China such as Apple, Disney, Nike and Estee Lauder all dropped at least 3%.
Caterpillar, a bellwether for global growth, fell 2.8% while Nvidia and Micron Technology fell more than 4% each while AMD dropped 3%.
Elsewhere, American Express shares fell 4.3% after an analyst at Stephens downgraded them to equal weight from overweight. The analyst also trimmed his price target on the stock, citing a stretched valuation.
On the data front, new home sales numbers and the Dallas Fed manufacturing numbers were due out this morning.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury hurtled higher, lowering yields to 1.62% from Friday’s 1.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices fell 94 cents to $53.25 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $8.30 to $1,580.20 U.S. an ounce.
