Stocks ended a rollercoaster day on the upside, with strength in gold topping weakness in consumer and energy stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index picked up 28.4 points to end Monday at 14,388.28.
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.40 cents to 70.80 cents U.S.
Gold led the parade, as OceanaGold attached 16 cents, or 8.9%, to $1.95, while Kirkland Lake Gold hiked $3.55, or 7.3%, to $52.00.
Tech shares moved up, too, with Shopify galloping $56.04, or 6.7%, to $887.56, while Sierra Wireless picked up $1.25, or 10.8%, to $11.27.
Materials also prospered, with Pretium Resources gaining $1.01, or 9.8%, to $11.27, while First Majestic Silver took on 39 cents, or 4%, to $10.15.
Consumer discretionary stocks, however, moved lower, as Linamar shed $1.23, or 3.6%, to $32.61, while Restaurant Brands International dipped $2.16, or 3.4%, to $62.36.
Energy stocks also skidded, with Baytex Energy off three cents, or 8.8%, to 31 cents, while Shawcor down 18 cents, or 9.3%, to $1.76.
Another negative group was in utilities, with Boralex, off $1.44, or 5.1%, to $26.67, while Brookfield Infra Partners moved lower $1.79, or 3.2%, to $54.18.
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 ended lower 0.11 points to 444.76.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were better, as gold headed higher 3.4%, information technology gained 3.3%, and materials bested Friday’s finish by 2.7%.
The five laggards were weighed most by energy, sliding 1.5%, consumer discretionary stocks, down 1.4%, and utilities, down 1.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell sharply Monday, retreating after back-to-back weekly gains, as a historic decline U.S. crude prices raised concerns about the economic damage being done by coronavirus shutdowns. A delay in funding the depleted small business rescue loan program also weighed on sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrials thundered lower 592.05 points, or 2.4%, to 23,650.44. Boeing fell more than 6% to lead the Dow lower while Chevron and Exxon Mobil dropped more than 4% each.
The S&P 500 descended 51.4 points, or 1.8%, to 2,823.16. Energy, real estate and utilities were the worst-performing sectors in the S&P 500, falling more than 3% each.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 89.41 points, or 1%, to 8,560.73.
A historic fall in energy prices raised concerns about how deep the economic slowdown will be this quarter. The May contract for West Texas Intermediate, which expires on Tuesday, plunged more than 100% to settle in negative country on weak demand outlook and storage capacity issues.
Sentiment on Wall Street was also soured by the Senate not reaching a deal on more coronavirus relief. However, the Senate set up a vote as soon as Tuesday afternoon.
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 U.S. 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 gained ground, lowering yields to 0.62% from Friday’s 0.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices plummeted $52.59 to negative $33.32 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jumped $10.70 to $1,709.50 U.S. an ounce.
