Indexes in Toronto fell hard at the open on Wednesday, dragged down by energy stocks as oil prices fell on demand concerns due to a deepening COVID-19 crisis in Asia, while a rise in annual inflation rate in April also weighed.
The TSX cratered 222.32 points, or 1.1%, to begin mid-week Wednesday at 19,284.73.
The Canadian dollar gave back 0.16 cents to 82.82 cents U.S.
BMO raised the target price on Tourmaline Oil to $38.00 from $33.00. Tourmaline shares gained 12 cents to $29.37.
Scotiabank raised the target price on West Fraser Timber to $130.00 from $128.00. West Fraser shares thundered lower $2.88, or 3.2%, tro $88.04.
CIBC raises target price on MAG Silver to $29.00 from $37.00. MAG shares fell 33 cents, or 1.3%, to $24.35.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada said its Consumer Price Index rose 3.4% on a year-over-year basis in April, up from a 2.2% gain in March. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.6% in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange ditched 15.38 points, or 1.6%, to 932.77.
All but one of the 12 subgroups were lower, energy sputtering 2.8%, health-care sicker by 2.1%, and consumer discretionary stocks off 1.6%.
The lone holdout was in gold, up 0.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks fell sharply on Wednesday as massive selling returned to the tech sector amid a plunge in cryptocurrencies.
The Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 519.69 points, or 1.5%, to 33,540.97,
The S&P 500 skidded 63.24 points, or 1.5%, to 4,064.59,
The NASDAQ jettisoned 202.17 points, or 1.5%, to 13,101.47, as Microsoft, Facebook, Alphabet and Apple all slid more than 1%
Sentiment in the tech sector was dented by a drop in cryptocurrencies including bitcoin. The world’s largest digital token plunged 30% at its low of the session to just above $30,000 according to Coin Metrics.
Bitcoin has been cut in half since hitting an all-time high above $64,000 in mid-April. On Tuesday, China warned financial institutions not to conduct crypto-related business, possibly sparking the selloff.
Tesla, a big holder of bitcoin, declined 4%. Microstrategy, another company which bought a large amount of bitcoin for its corporate treasury, tanked by 10%. Coinbase, the newly public crypto exchange, tumbled nearly 10%.
Helping the sentiment a bit on Wednesday was better-than-expected results from Target. Shares of the major retailer popped by 3.8% after it said sales surged 23% last quarter.
The Federal Reserve publishes the minutes from its April meeting later Wednesday afternoon, which could add to angst about inflation. The Fed kept its easy policies that meeting, but acknowledged that inflation could rise in coming months. The central bank maintains that these price pressures will be transitory.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys were slightly higher, lowering yields to 1.64% from Tuesday’s 1.64%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices sank $2.65 to $62.84 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $22.20 to $1,890.20 U.S. an ounce.