Equities throughout North America were down heavily in the first hour of trade on Monday, with petroleum prices the chief culprit.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index sank 186.57 points to open Monday and the week at 14,173.31.
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.17 cents to 71.04 cents U.S.
Alimentation Couche-Tard's buyout of petrol station operator Caltex Australia Ltd has become the latest victim of the coronavirus outbreak, as fuel demand plunges and as companies look inward to get through the crisis.
Couche-Tard shares lost 16 cents to $40.22.
CAE said it would recall 1,500 of its employees in Canada, furloughed in response to the coronavirus pandemic as a government wage subsidy program helps put workers back on payroll. CAE shares shed 26 cents, or 1.2%, to $21.62.
Berenberg raised the target price on Asanko Gold to $1.80 from $1.70. Asanko shares acquired 11 cents, or 7.7%, to $1.54.
RBC initiated coverage on Lightspeed POS with a sector perform rating and target price of $25. Lightspeed shares went south 15 cents to $20.85.
TD Securities raised the rating on Tervita Corp. to buy from hold. Tervita shares eked up three cents, or $3.11.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said wholesale trade rose 0.7% to $67.5 billion in February, a third consecutive monthly gain. The agency went on to say three of seven sub-sectors recorded higher sales, accounting for 51% of total wholesale sales.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange let go of 0.43 points to 444.44 early Monday morning
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, as energy stumbled 4.2%, financials swooned 2.3%, and utilities tailed off 2.2%.
The three gainers proved to be information technology, up 2.1%. gold, shinier by 1.6%, and materials, 1% to the good.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell sharply to start the week on Monday as investors weighed the latest coronavirus news along with a sharp decline in U.S. crude prices. The market was coming off its first back-to-back weekly gains in more than two months.
The Dow Jones Industrials plunged 396.36 points, or 1.6%, to open Monday at 23,846.13.
The S&P 500 descended 35.86 points, or 1.2%, to 2,838.70.
The NASDAQ Composite faded 72.25 points to 8,577.89.
Chevron and Exxon Mobil fell more than 5% each to lead the Dow lower. The S&P 500 energy sector lost more than 6% in early trading as Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton both fell more than 10%.
Equities were following a decline in U.S. oil prices, which raise concerns about how deep the economic slowdown will be this quarter and also hit the prices of energy stocks.
The May contract for West Texas Intermediate, which expires on Tuesday, plunged more than 36% to $11.66 U.S. per barrel on weak demand outlook and storage capacity issues.
Stocks got a jolt last week after a report said patients with severe virus symptoms were quickly recovering after using remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all rose more than 2% last week.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday the state is “past the high point” of new cases, noting the infection rate has fallen along with coronavirus-related hospitalizations. Cuomo added New York will roll out antibody testing this week. In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy said Saturday: “We’re flattening the curve.”
In Washington, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration and Congress were close to striking a deal on a second round of loans for small businesses. A $349-billion rescue loan program ran out of money on Thursday.
But while the market may be pricing in an improvement in the virus outbreak, recent economic data has been dismal. Over the past month, 22 million jobs have been lost, weekly unemployment claims numbers from the Labor Department showed.
The number of coronavirus-related deaths has also risen to more than 165,000 globally, according to Johns Hopkins University. In the U.S., the death toll has risen to over 41,000.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury continued to gain, lowering yields to 0.62% from Friday’s 0.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices plummeted $5.89 to $12.38 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $5.80 to $1,704.60 U.S. an ounce.
