Canadian stock indexes aped their American cousins Thursday, posting heavy losses on suspicion of what the U.S. Federal Reserve might continued to do to interest rates in its fight against inflation.
The TSX Composite fell 291.02 points, or 1.5%, to end Thursday at 19,600.63.
The Canadian dollar faded 0.57 cents at 73.22 cents U.S.
All sectors took a beating Thursday, with Ivanhoe Mines tumbling $1.48, or 12.1%, to $10.80, while First Majestic Silver was down $4.76, or 14.7%, to $27.57.
In gold, Iamgold slipped 13 cents, or 4.7%, to $2.62, while Seabridge Gold stumbled 78 cents, or 4.8%, to $15.41.
In techs, HUT 8 Mining lost eight cents, or 6.4%, to $1.31, while Magnet Forensics doffed $2.59, or 6.1%, to $40.00.
In things macroeconomic, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says housing starts the trend in housing starts was 267,365 units in November, up from 264,583 units in October.
The Canadian Real Estate Association reported national home sales declined by 3.3% month-over-month in November. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) monthly activity came in 38.9% below November 2021.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 4.68 points to 570.79.
All 12 subgroups lost ground, with materials plunging 3.1%, gold down 2.9% and information technology falling 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell sharply Thursday after new data showed retail sales declined more than expected in November, raising fears that the Federal Reserve’s relentless interest rate hikes are tipping the economy into a recession.
The Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 764.13 points, or 2.3%, to close out Thursday at 33,202.22, in its worst day since September as hopes for a year-end rally diminished.
The S&P 500 folded 99.57 points, or 2.5%, to 3,895.75, bringing its decline for December to about 4.5%.
The NASDAQ Composite Index dropped 360.36 points, or 3.2%, to 10,810.53, as the battered tech-heavy index stretched its 2022 losses to nearly 31%.
The sell-off was broad-based with only 14 stocks in the S&P 500 trading in positive territory. Mega-cap tech stocks declined, with shares of Apple and Alphabet down more than 4%, while Amazon and Microsoft were lower by more than 3%. Shares of Netflix fell 8.6% following a
Digiday report that said the streaming firm is offering to return money to advertisers after missing viewership targets.
Bank shares also declined as fears of a recession increased. JPMorgan Chase lost about 2.5%.
Investors absorbed a disappointing retail sales report that suggested inflation is taking a toll on consumers. Retail sales fell 0.6% in
November, according to the Commerce Department. That was a bigger loss than the Dow Jones estimate of a 0.3% decline.
The central bank said it will continue hiking rates through 2023 and projected its fed funds rate to peak at a higher-than-expected 5.1%. With Wednesday’s half-a-percentage-point hike, the targeted range for rates is currently 4.25% to 4.5%, the highest in 15 years.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury were up slightly, lowering yields to 3.45% from Wednesday’s 3.48%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked $1.15 to $76.13 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices docked $31.10 to $1,787.60 U.S. an ounce.
Dow Endures Worst Day in 3 Mos.