Baystreet.ca - Canada's main stock index slid to a two-week low on Monday, as investors globally avoided risky assets after last week's robust U.S. jobs data dashed expectations of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year.
The TSX stumbled 173.86 points to move into noon-hour EST Monday at 24,593.87.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.02 cents at 69.39 cents U.S.
Canadian investors have been on edge as they wonder whether U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, set to take office on January 20, would stick with his plans of a 25% tariff on Ottawa.
In corporate news, renewable fuel producer Tidewater Renewables on Friday announced the sale of its interest in the Rimrock Renewables natural gas partnership. Tidewater shares regained three cents, or 3.8%, to 82 cents.
Elsewhere, Barrick Gold (NYSE:GOLD) recommended that its shareholders reject an unsolicited offer by TRC Capital Investment to buy about 0.29% of the miner's common stock. Shares of the company fell 35 cents, or 1.5%, to $22.35.
ON BAYSTREET The TSX Venture Exchange lost 9.95 points, or 1.6%, mid-Monday to 598.47.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground Monday morning, with health-care sagging 2.2%, information technology sinking 2.1%, and utilities off 1.8%.
The lone gainers proved to be energy, picking up 1.4%, and communications, better by 0.7%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks slipped Monday as key tech shares that have led the bull market continued to be dumped by investors.
The Dow Jones Industrials stayed positive 42.21 points to break for lunch Monday at 41,973.66, as investors rotated into non-tech shares like Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), JPMorgan and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH).
The S&P 500 Index dropped 45.58 points to 5,781.46.
The NASDAQ Composite slipped 294.37 points, or 1.5%, to 18,867.26.
All three benchmarks are down for the last two weeks, with tech shares causing most of the damage.
Stocks are coming off a losing week. The 30-stock Dow and S&P 500 both ended the week 1.9% lower, while the NASDAQ Composite lost 2.3%. All three are now in the red for the young year.
Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), two of the bull market leaders popular with retail investors, shed more than 4% and 3%, respectively — building upon their losses from last week. Nvidia fell nearly 6% during the period, while Palantir lost 11%. Other popular tech shares including Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) and Micron (NASDAQ:MU) were also down.
Investors are hoping the start of the fourth-quarter earnings season with stabilize markets. Banks including Citigroup (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) report on Wednesday, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) will post results on Thursday.
Data this week includes the December consumer price index on Wednesday morning. Before that, investors will parse wholesale inflation with December’s producer price index report on Tuesday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury sank, lifting yields to 4.80% from Friday’s 4.76%, its highest level since late 2023 after the jobs report. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained $2.29 to $78.86 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold slipped $30.90 an ounce to $2,684.10 U.S.