By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite Index was at 19,548.51 points, down 0.98% in the day’s trading, and at a new 52 week low. Following yesterday's sell-off, Canada's benchmark index remains in correction territory, down over 10% from its all-time closing high.
On Wall Street, the S&P500 extended declines after yesterday confirming a bear market, defined as a 20% decline below the all-time closing high.
Equities remain volatile ahead of tomorrow’s Fed policy decision. Markets expect a 50 or possibly 75 basis point hike, following last week’s hotter-than-expected CPI reading in the U.S. Today’s Canadian domestic factory sales data also reinforces the case for aggressive rate hikes from the Bank of Canada in July. Today’s data shows manufacturing levels at above pre-pandemic levels, another indicator of the Canadian economy’s near full recovery from Covid-19 measures.
The commodity-heavy Canadian index was pressured by crude following news of a proposed 21% “excess profits” tax on U.S. producers, ongoing worries of slowing economic growth, the Chinese re-closing, and OPEC's inability to meet production quotas.
In a reversal from his earlier stance, and a key campaign pledge to isolate the Kingdom, U.S. President Joe Biden now plans to meet with Saudi Crown Mohammed bin Sultan in July to request more output from the behemoth oil producer.
The index was also weighed down by materials, which tracked a decline in gold as U.S. yields rose and the dollar continued to strengthen ahead of tomorrow’s announcement from the Fed.
The biggest gainers of the session were Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSX:ACB) (TSX:ACB), which rose 6.96% or 0.11 points to trade at 1.69 at the close. Nutrien (TSX:NTR) Ltd (TSX:NTR) added 4.04% or 4.39 points to end at 113.00 and LifeWorks Inc (TSX:LWRK) was up 2.91% or 0.52 points to 18.38 in late trade.
The biggest losers included Bombardier Inc (TSX:BBDb) (TSX:BBDb), which lost 18.21% or 4.89 points to trade at 21.97 in late trade. NexGen Energy Ltd. (TSX:NXE) declined 9.32% or 0.51 points to end at 4.96 and Birchcliff Energy Ltd . (TSX:BIR) shed 8.65% or 1.01 points to 10.66.
In New York , the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.50%, the S&P 500 index lost 0.38%, while the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.18%.
Bonds and Currencies
Yields on Canadian bonds also rose, with the 5-year yields 0.110 points higher at 3.618%, the 10-year yield +0.143 points at 3.658%. Yields on the U.S. 10-year were +0.112 points at 3.32%.
The USD index was +0.37% higher at 105.47, while the USD/CAD pair was up 0.46% at C$1.2956 to a greenback.