Equities in Canada’s largest centre continued to take their punishment Thursday, as utilities and tech concerns were especially punished.
The TSX demurred 97.47 points, to conclude Thursday at 20,120.74.
The Canadian dollar sank 0.03 cents to 74.89 cents U.S.
Utilities were roughed up Thursday, as units of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners swooned $1.99, or 4.5%, to $42.63, while Fortis tumbled $2.38, or 4.3%, to $53.05.
In tech stocks, Shopify dumped $4.59, or 5.5%, to $78.88, while Bitfarms handed back 11 cents, or 4.8%, to $2.19.
In communications, Cogeco Communications plunged $1.61, or 2.5%, to $64.01, while Quebecor issues fell 75 cents, or 2.3%, to $31.26.
Energy tried to even things out, with Vermilion Energy climbing 94 cents, or 5.3%, to $18.79, while Secure Energy Services moved forward 26 cents, or 3.9%, to $6.97.
In health-care, Tilray grabbed six cents, or 1.9%, to $3.22, while Bausch Health Companies added nine cents to $12.56.
In industrials, Ballard Power Systems surged 49 cents, or 8.2%, to $6.45, while SNC-Lavalin took on $3.85, or 10.2%, to $41.73.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange reared back 0.28 points to 611.64.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups declined, as utilities dumped 2.9%, information technology stuttered 1.4%, and communications faltered 1.2%.
The three gainers proved to be energy, ahead 1.3%, health-care, up 0.3%, and industrials, easing up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 ticked lower Thursday, after notching its worst day since April, as Wall Street assessed the latest corporate earnings results and struggled to shake off pressure from rising bond yields.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 66.7 points to end Thursday at 35,215.82.
The much broader index faded 11.54 points to 4,501.85.
The NASDAQ index dipped 13.73 points to 13,959.72.
The busy earnings week carried on, with chipmaker Qualcomm losing about 8.2% on a fiscal third-quarter revenue miss and disappointing guidance. PayPal shed 12.3% despite posting in-line results, while Expedia plunged 16.4% as gross bookings fell short of expectations.
The market faces another major earnings test Thursday as tech bellwethers Apple and Amazon report results after the bell. Thus far, nearly 79% of S&P 500 companies have issued quarterly reports, with about 82% beating expectations, according to FactSet. Earnings are also expected to fall about 5% from a year ago.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury crashed, raising yields to 4.18% from Wednesday’s 4.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $2.24 to $81.73 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices subtracted $6.20 to $1,968.80 U.S. an ounce.