Investors in Canada tried to absorb the shock of harsh tariffs visited on their companies by the Trump administration Friday. Energy and tech stocks took the brunt of the selloff, as manufacturing figures also rolled in.
The TSX Composite Index came off its lows of the day, but still finished Friday negative by 239.35 points to end the day and the week at 27,020.43. Over the last five sessions, the index lost 293 points, or 1.08%.
Markets in Canada will be closed Monday for Civic Holiday.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.35 cents at 72.51 cents U.S.
Only gold stocks made their way into positive territory Friday, with Aya Gold progressing 24 cents, or 2%, to $12.05, while B2Gold claimed eight cents, or 1.7%, to $4.74.
Everywhere else saw stocks taking their lumps; among tech concerns, Open Text Corp. gave way $1.58, or 3.9%, to $39.20, while Coveo Solutions struggled 64 cents, or 7.1%, to $8.38.
In energy, Paramount Resources wilted 68 cents, or 3.2%, to $20.63, while Vermilion Energy lost 39 cents, or 3.4%, to $10.98.
In health-care, Bausch Health Companies forked over 28 cents, or 3.9%, to $39.20, while Chartwell Retirement Residences dipped four cents to $17.67.
On the economic calendar, manufacturing PMI in Canada increased to 46.1 points in July from 45.6 points in June.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange fell 9.67 points, or 1.3%, Friday to 761.21, a drop of 36.3 points, or 4.56% on the week.
All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower Friday, weighed most by information technology, stooping 2.7%, energy, off 2%, and health-care, sliding 1.4%.
Only gold made it into the green, and 1% at that.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks tumbled on Friday to kick off August trading as investors weighed stark signs of a weakening economy and President Donald Trump’s modified tariff rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 542.40 points, or 1.2%, to 43,588.58.
The S&P 500 dwindled 101.38 points, or 1.6%, to 6,238.01
The NASDAQ dropped 472.32 points, or 2.2%, to close at 20.605.13.
Bank stocks were sharply lower on fears that a slowing economy could hit loan growth. Shares of JPMorgan Chase pulled back more than 2%, while Bank of America and Wells Fargo fell more than 3% each. GE Aerospace and Caterpillar dipped 1% and 3%.
Shares of Amazon tumbled more than 7% after the e-commerce giant provided light operating income guidance for the current quarter. Not all tech news was bad as Apple shares jumped 2% on the back of an earnings and revenue beat.
The July jobs report showed non-farm payrolls expanded by 73,000 last month, well beneath the consensus estimate from economists polled by Dow Jones that called for a 100,000 increase to payrolls.
Prior months were significantly revised down. June job growth totaled just 14,000, down from 147,000. The May count came down to 19,000 from 125,000, signaling the labour market has been weakening for a while now.
Not helping sentiment overnight were Trump’s updated duties ranging from 10% to 41% overnight at the Aug. 1 deadline. Goods that have been transshipped in a bid to avoid the tariffs will face another 40% levy, according to the White House.
Probably most shocking to markets was that for Canada, one of the U.S.’ biggest trading partners, goods imported into the country will now have a 35% levy, up from 25%.
Prices for the 10-year treasury popped, lowering yields to 4.20% from Thursday’s 4.37%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices retreated $2.02 to $67.24 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices ballooned $63.10 at $3,411.70 U.S. an ounce.
