Canada's main stock index fell on Tuesday, dragged down by a selloff in the heavyweight energy sector after U.S. oil futures sank into negative territory.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dumped 378.38 points to move into noon hour Tuesday at 14,009.90.
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.38 cents to 70.44 cents U.S.
Oil and gas explorer Seven Generations fell 13 cents, or 6.1%, the most on the TSX, to $2.02, while the second-biggest decliner was Linamar Corp, down $2.25, or 6.9%, to $30.36.
Shopify Inc. gave up early gains to falter $87.46, or 9.9%, to $800.10.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said retail sales rose for the fourth consecutive month, up 0.3% to $52.2 billion in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange blundered 10.4 points, or 2.3%, to 434.36.
All 12 TSX subgroups were negative, with information technology dropping 5.2%, real-estate down 3.9%, and health-care off 3.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell sharply once again on Tuesday as oil prices continued their unprecedented wipeout.
The Dow Jones Industrials let go of another 659.57 points, or 2.8%, to 22,990.87. Tuesday’s losses brought the Dow’s two-day decline to more than 1,000 points.
The S&P 500 dumped 92.05 points, or 3.3%, to 2,731.11.
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 322.22 points, or 3.8%, to 8,238.50.
Traders were focused on the strange happenings with oil futures once again, which raised concern about deep losses for the energy industry hitting the U.S. economy even further.
On Monday, the May contract for oil futures expiring Tuesday fell to zero and then went to an actual negative price, meaning producers would pay for someone to take the oil off their hands. The bizarre move has to do with the fact that because of the coroanvirus shutdowns, big buyers of oil like refineries don’t need any more oil because their tanks are nearly filled.
Major oil stocks Exxon Mobil slumped 0.4%, and Chevron was down 2.2%.
Not helping sentiment were shares of IBM, which slipped 5% after the company reported a 3.4% decline in revenue in the first quarter from a year ago amid the spread of coronavirus.
Salesforce and Oracle both fell more than 4% after IBM said its software and global business segments suffered from strong headwinds in the last two weeks of March due to the virus. Coca-Cola, Netflix, and Chipotle are on deck to report earnings on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump tweeted he instructed the Energy and Treasury departments to “formulate a plan which will make funds available so that these very important companies and jobs will be secured long into the future.”
Earlier Monday, the Senate failed to reach a deal on the next package to rescue an economy and health care system ravaged by the global pandemic. However, a vote is set up as soon as Tuesday afternoon to replenish a key small business aid program. Sen. Chuck Schumer said Tuesday a deal was likely on that front.
Investors continued to monitor the coronavirus pandemic and the country’s plan to reopen the economy. Signs have emerged that New York is past the worst of its outbreak. Georgia on Monday rolled out aggressive plans to reopen the state’s economy, calling for many businesses to reopen their doors as early as Friday.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained ground, lowering yields to 0.55% from Monday’s 0.62%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices removed $7.90 to $12.53 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices sank $16.20 to $1,695.00 U.S. an ounce.
