Equities in Canada’s biggest centre fell on Thursday, weighed by resource stocks, after the U.S. Federal Reserve disappointed expectations for further stimulus to spur inflation and support the world's largest economy.
The TSX tumbled 137.99 points to begin Thursday at 16,157.67.
The Canadian dollar sagged 0.23 cents to 75.63 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange removed 8.65 points, or 1.2%, to 738.70.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups began the day negative, as gold dulled in price 2.7%, materials swooned 2.3%, and consumer discretionary stocks tumbled 1.5%.
The two gainers were consumer staples, up 0.6%, and communications, inching ahead 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks dropped on Thursday as technology shares declined, along with plays related to a successful coronavirus vaccine rollout.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back 104.26 points to 27,928.12.
The S&P 500 slid 22.11 points to 3,363.38.
The NASDAQ trudged lower 119.26 points, or 1.1%, to 10,931.21. The tech-heavy NASDAQ also dipped back into correction territory, briefly trading 10% below its all-time high.
Shares of stocks that would benefit most from a vaccine struggled amid conflicting messages about the timeline. President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that the U.S. could distribute a vaccine as early as October, contracting the director of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, who told lawmakers earlier in the day that vaccinations would be in limited quantities this year and not widely distributed for six to nine months.
Carnival and United Airlines both fell 2%.
Technology stocks, which weighed on the market Wednesday and were the source of the selloff earlier this month, were down again. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Facebook all lost at least 1%. Apple dipped 1.8%, while Tesla dropped more than 3%.
Shares of Snowflake, an IPO which captivated Wall Street on Wednesday as it doubled in its debut, were off by 9.7%.
Traders were monitoring the status of stimulus talks after President Trump suggested Wednesday he could support a larger package. However, Politico was reporting that Senate Republicans appeared reluctant to do so without more details on a bill.
The latest U.S. weekly jobless claims came in slightly better than expected. First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 860,000 in the week ending Sept.12, versus an estimate of 875,000, according to economists polled by Dow Jones.
Investors evaluated for a second day the Federal Reserve’s interest rate outlook where it indicated rates could stay anchored to the zero-bound through 2023 as the central bank tries to spur inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also pressed lawmakers to move forward with stimulus.
Prices for the 10-Year Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 0.67% from Wednesday’s 0.7%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices shed eight cents to $40.24 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices jettisoned $25.00 to $1,945.50 U.S. an ounce.
