Toronto’s seven-session win streak came to a screeching halt on Tuesday, mainly due to weakness in gold and health-care issues.
The S&P/TSX retreated 190.06 points, to end Tuesday and a wild month of May at 20,729.34.
The Canadian dollar nosed ahead 0.06 cents to 79.07 cents U.S.
Gold took the biggest lumps on the market Tuesday, with Torex Gold down 58 cents, or 4.5%, to $12.41, while New Gold backtracked seven cents, or 4.1%, to $1.64.
Energy stocks retreated, too, with Vermilion Energy sliding $1.20, or 4.2%, to $27.22, while Enerplus skidded 66 cents, or 3.4%, to $18.72.
In health-care issues, Bausch Health Companies docked 76 cents, or 5.9%, to $12.22, while WELL Health Technologies lost 22 cents, or 5.4%, to $3.86.
Consumer staple stocks tried to balance things out, with North West Company stretching 57 cents, or 1.6%, to $36.33, while Loblaw Companies acquired $1.44, or 1.2%, to $117.67.
In real-estate, H&R REIT climbed 24 cents, or 1.7%, to $14.01, while Colliers International picked up $2.12, or 1.4%, to $153.25.
Consumer discretionary stocks outperformed, too, with Martinrea International advancing 32 cents, or 3.4%, to $9.88, while Linamar jumped $1.67, or 3%, to $55.80.
As Ontario looks set to keep in office leaders promising to increase spending, its higher debt load compared to other provinces could reduce the appeal of its bonds in an environment where interest rates are rising and its housing market is starting to cool.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday gross domestic product rose 0.7% in March, led by growth in client-facing industries.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 16.85 points, or 2.3%, to 720.98.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups ended negative, with gold off 3%, energy faltering 2.3%, and health-care down 2.1%.
The three gainers proved to be consumer staples, better by 0.4%, and real-estate, up 0.3%, and consumer discretionaries, up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks seesawed Tuesday as investors look to close out a rocky month of trading that saw the S&P 500 flirt with bear market territory amid inflation and recession fears.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 222.84 points, to end Tuesday and May at 32,990.12.
The S&P 500 dropped 26.09 points to 4,132.15
T
he NASDAQ Composite gave up earlier gains and tumbled 49.74 points to 12,081.39.
After a holiday hiatus Monday, U.S. stocks wrapped up a roller-coaster May. The Dow and the S&P 500 finished the month little changed, supported by a major rally the week prior. The NASDAQ lost about 2.1% on the month.
Energy stocks comprised the worst-performing S&P 500 sector Tuesday, after being the biggest gainer earlier in the session. Chevron slid 2%, and Schlumberger fell 4.3%.
Industrial stocks linked to the economic cycle also fell Tuesday. Honeywell lost 1.4% and Nucor fell 3.8%.
Health care was another lagging sector Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group was among the biggest losers on the Dow, off by 2%.
Meanwhile, a rally in some mega-cap technology stocks provided a bit of support to the broader indexes. Amazon rose 4.4% and Google parent Alphabet gained 1.3%.
Stocks were down broadly Tuesday with nine out of 11 S&P 500 sectors negative.
Treasury prices collapsed, raising yields to 2.86% from Friday’s 2.74%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slid 15 cents to $114.92 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $18.50 to $1,832.80 U.S. an ounce.