It looked hopeful at first for markets throughout North America on Tuesday, but then, negative forces again weighed on equities to drive them down. Health-care stocks in Canada proved the main culprit.
The S&P/TSX Composite lost 109.63 points, to finish Tuesday at 19,890.06.
The Canadian dollar let go of 0.08 cents at 76.78 cents U.S.
Health-care was broken during the day, with Bausch Health Companies taking a pounding $4.62, or 27.5%, to $12.16, while Chartwell Retirement Residences suffered 35 cents, or 2.9%, to $11.69.
In gold stocks, Torex shed 45 cents, or 3.6%, to $12.24, while Wesdome Gold lost 47 cents, or 3.5%, to $12.94.
Real-estate stocks were also lower on the day, with Boardwalk REIT sliding $2.54, or 5.2%, to $46.76, while Riocan REIT gave up 85 cents, or 3.9% to $20.98.
In consumer discretionary issues, MTY Food Group tried to salvage some dignity, gaining $4.07, or 4.2%, to $51.22. Martinrea International strengthened 29 cents, or 3.5%, to $8.60.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange skidded 8.62 points, or 1.2%, to 711.19
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower to close the day, with health-care sliding 5.2%, gold dulling in price 1.3%, and real-estate off 0.7%.
Only consumer discretionary stocks survived, taking on 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks seesawed Tuesday as the major averages struggled to recover from three days of heavy selling that brought the S&P 500 to its lowest level in more than a year.
The Dow Jones Industrials was again negative 85.29 points to 32,160.41.
The S&P 500 stayed above water 9.81 points to 4,001.05.
The NASDAQ Composite surged 114.42 points, or 1%, to 11,737.67.
Beaten-up technology stocks like Microsoft, Intel, Salesforce and Apple led Tuesday’s gains, rising about 2% each and leading the tech-heavy NASDAQ higher.
The sector has suffered some of the biggest losses in recent weeks as investors moved out of growth areas and into safe havens like consumer staples and utilities amid recessionary fears.
Meanwhile, IBM slipped 4% and Home Depot, 3M and JPMorgan Chase each alid about 2%, dragging the Dow Industrial Average into the red.
The technology sector has suffered some of the biggest losses in recent weeks as investors moved out of growth areas and into safe havens like consumer staples and utilities amid recessionary fears.
On the earnings front, Peloton Interactive plummeted 8.7% after reporting a wider-than-expected loss in the recent quarter. AMC’s stock dropped 5.4% on the back of recent quarterly earnings.
Investors are looking ahead to earnings from Coinbase, Roblox and RealReal after the bell and are awaiting April CPI data on Wednesday which is expected to come in slightly below March’s 8.5% and could signal that inflation has reached a peak.
Treasury prices progressed, with yields dropping to 3% from Monday’s 3.03%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumbered $3.54 to $99.55 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices crumbled $22.60 to $1,836.00 U.S. an ounce.