By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com --The S&P/TSX Composite dropped over 500 points and below the 18,500 mark today as the Canadian index, along with Wall Street, was pressured by broad risk-off sentiment following a 75 bp move and resolutely hawkish commentary from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
The commodity-heavy Canadian index was also pressured by a slide in oil prices, which fell to their lowest level this year on a surging dollar, and worries of an economic slowdown driven by rate hikes from global central banks.
The Biggest Stories on Bay Street
Dye & Durham (TSX:DND) Ltd. has walked away from its proposed acquisition of Australian company Link Administration Holdings Ltd. The deal has faced regulatory hurdles from a body in the UK, which recently added a 50-million-pound penalty against Link Group in addition to a potential restitution payment of up to about 306 million pounds, for which Dye & Durham could have been liable. Dye & Durham then submitted a revised offer, which had been rejected by Link.
First Capital Realty announced more than $1 billion in asset sales focusing on grocery and necessities-based outlets in “thriving neighbourhoods with superior demographics.” The company calls its “Portfolio Optimization plan “An Opportunity to rebalance portfolio to a higher proportion of EBITDA-producing assets and enhance FCR's near- to medium-term FFO-growth while maintaining significant long-term upside
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In Canadian Economics
Canadian retail sales fell by 2.5% month over month in July to $61.3 billion, the first decline in seven months. Volumes dropped by 2% Retail sales decreased 2.5%, the first decline in seven months. The declines were broad-based across categories, in 9 of the 11 sectors, and were driven by lower sales at gasoline stations and clothing and clothing accessories stores. The reading is an indicator of Canadian consumers cutting spending amidst sharply higher borrowing costs and searing hot inflation.