Equities in Canada’s largest centre fell on Thursday as weak oil and metal prices weighed on commodity stocks and banks slid on fears that Wednesday’s surprise 100-basis-point interest hike by the central bank could hit mortgage growth.
The S&P/TSX tumbled 325.76 points, or 1.8%, to move into noon hour Thursday at 18,289.43.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.78 cents to 76.14 cents U.S.
Barrick Gold fell 83 cents, or 3.9%, to $20.57, after the miner said it expected lower realized copper prices in the second quarter.
Brookfield Asset Management slid 58 cents, or 1%, to $56.70, after Deutsche Telekom agreed to sell 51% of its tower business to a consortium of the Canadian company and U.S. private equity firm DigitalBridge.
On the economic stage, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales fell 2.0% in May, mainly on lower sales of motor vehicles and primary metals.
Excluding the transportation equipment industry, total manufacturing sales rose 0.2% in May.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange sank 9.11 points, or 1.5%, to 586.48.
All but one of 12 TSX subgroups remained negative midday as energy slid 4.1%, gold lost 3.6%, and materials were off 3.5%.
Industrials proved the lone gainer, up 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks tumbled Thursday as big bank earnings kicked off with disappointing results and traders assessed the possibility of even tighter U.S. monetary policy on the back of June’s inflation data.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off its lows of the morning, but were still off 311.36 points, or 1%, to 30,461.43.
The S&P 500 stumbled 33.74 points to 3,768.04.
The NASDAQ Composite skidded 86.77 points to 11,160.81.
Earnings results from major banks on Thursday offered further clues into the health of the U.S. economy as recession fears mount.
JPMorgan Chase shares sank 4.2% after the bank added to reserves for bad loans and halted its share buybacks, signaling a more cautious economic outlook.
Morgan Stanley shares dipped 1.3% on the back of a sharp decline in investment banking revenue, while Goldman Sachs, which is set to report earnings Monday, slipped 3.5%. Earnings from big banks continue on Friday with results from Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
All stocks in the Dow fell on the day, led by declines from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Chevron. Energy, materials and financials led the S&P 500’s losses, down 2% each. Tech stocks Meta Platforms, Salesforce, Tesla and Amazon fell more than 1%.
June’s producer price index report, which measures prices paid to producers of goods and services, showed wholesale prices rise 11.3% last month as energy prices jumped and offered further insights into the health of the economy.
Treasury prices declined, raising yields to 2.97% from Wednesday’s 2.91%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were in the red $2.53 to $93.77 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices dropped $25.10 to $1,710.40 U.S. an ounce.
Worry over Rate Hikes Translates into Much Lower Markets