Canada’s main stock index fell on Tuesday as oil stocks tracked a decline in crude prices on worries about COVID-19 curbs in China, while looming rate hikes by major central banks stoked concerns of a global economic slowdown.
The S&P/TSX came off its lows of the morning, battling to within 28.55 points of breakeven, to pause for lunch Tuesday at 18,788.25.
The Canadian dollar dropped 0.01 cents to 76.94 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks proved the best off, with Bausch Health Companies towering 44 cents, or 4%, to $11.35, while Aurora Cannabis moving up five cents, or 3.1%, to $1.68.
In consumer staples, Alimentation Couche-Tard took on 77 cents, or 1.5%, to $52.34, while Premium Brands Holdings grabbed $1.04, or 1.1%, to $97.54.
Energy took a pummeling, however, as Meg Energy was trounced 81 cents, or 4.9%, to $15.86, while Tamarack Valley Energy lost 20 cents, or 5%, to $3.78.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange withered 6.48 points, or 1.1%, to 599.90.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups approached noon hour upward, with health-care haler 1.9%, consumer staples improved 0.6% and consumer discretionary stocks strengthened 0.5%.
The four laggards were weighed most by energy, sagging 3%, while industrials and information technology shares each slid 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks seesawed on Tuesday as worries over global economic growth dented investor appetite for risk assets and Wall Street looked ahead to what could be a difficult earnings season.
The Dow Jones Industrials gained 67.53 points to 31,241.37.
The S&P 500 ditched 3.07 points to 3,851.36.
The NASDAQ Composite fell 19.9 points to 11,352.70.
Some beaten-up tech shares bounced on Tuesday as investors continued to weigh growth fears. Apple added 2%, while Meta Platforms, Nvidia and Tesla moved marginally higher.
Twitter shares, which have been volatile after Elon Musk terminated his deal to purchase the social media company, added 2.6%. Microsoft lost 2.9% and Salesforce dropped more than 4%.
Airline stocks jumped with shares of Delta, United, and Southwest up more than 4% while American Airlines rose 8.4%. Battered cruise stocks Norwegian and Carnival added about 5% each. Peloton shares gained 4% after the fitness company announced it will outsource its manufacturing.
Materials and industrials rallied 1% each while energy tumbled 2% as oil prices declined. Halliburton, Devon Energy and Chevron slipped about 2% each.
PepsiCo kicked off the corporate earnings season on Tuesday. The snacks and beverage company reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue and raised its revenue outlook for the year. Delta Air Lines and JPMorgan Chase are among the companies slated to report later this week.
Treasury prices gained, lowering yields to 2.92% from Monday’s 2.99%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices capsized $7.44 to $96.65 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost 20 cents to $1,731.50 U.S. an ounce.