Equities in Canada’s biggest centre fell hard at Thursday’s open, led by energy stocks, after a sobering economic outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve dented risk appetite.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index opened Thursday down 313.70 points, or 2%, to 15,387.63.
The Canadian dollar shrank 0.46 cents at 74.10 cents U.S.
Bombardier is to cut around 400 jobs in its Northern Ireland operations, it said on Thursday, part of plans announced last week to cut 2,500 jobs or about 11% of the workforce in its global aviation unit.
Bombardier shares fell four cents, or 6.9%, to 54 cents.
TD Securities raised the target price on North West Company to $32.00 from $30.00. North West shares acquired 25 cents to $27.40.
BMO cuts target price on Transcontinental Inc. to $16.50 from $17.50. Transcontinental shares hiked 36 cents, or 2.8%, to $13.16.
Scotiabank raised the target price on Tricon Capital Group to $11.00 from $10.25. Tricon shares fell 20 cents, or 2.2%, to $8.78.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange plunged 6.59 points, or 1.2%, to 560.79.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups began the day on the downside looking up, as energy flopped 4.5%, health-care ailed 2.9%, and real-estate sank 2.8%.
Only gold held out against the negative tide, eking out a gain of 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell sharply on Thursday as coronavirus cases increased in some states that are reopening up from lockdowns. Shares that have surged recently on hopes for a smooth reopening of the economy led the declines.
The Dow Jones Industrials plummeted 740 points, or 2.7%, to 26,221.
The S&P 500 dropped 70 points, or 2.2%, to 3,116. Thursday’s losses put the Dow on pace for its first three-day losing streak in a month. The S&P 500 was also headed for its longest losing streak since early March.
The NASDAQ sagged 162 points, or 1.6%, to 10,020.35.
Shares of United Airlines, Delta, American and Southwest all dropped more than 10%. Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line shares fell more than 14%. Gap and Kohl’s shares also fell more than 9% each.
Concerns about a second wave of coronavirus cases have risen as U.S. states push deeper into reopening. Texas has reported three consecutive days of record-breaking COVID-19 hospitalizations. AP said nine California counties are reporting a spike in new coronavirus cases or hospitalizations of confirmed cases.
To be sure, one official said states such as Arizona and Texas "never really got rid of the first wave," and added: "It’s not a second wave."
Weekly jobless claims rose by 1.5 million last week, slightly less than the Dow Jones estimate of 1.6%. Continuing claims, which reflect the number of people receiving unemployment benefits for at least two weeks, declined by 339,000 to 20.9 million.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 0.67% from Wednesday’s 0.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $2.78 to $36.82 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices wilted $25.60 to $1,746.30 U.S. an ounce.
