Stocks Tumble Amid Rate Fright

Equities in Toronto slid on Thursday, after rallying in the previous session, as fears of a steep economic downturn persisted amid aggressive monetary policy tightening by global central banks.

The TSX Composite came off its lows of Thursday morning, losing 250.8 points, or 1.3%, by noon EDT to 18,398.41.

The Canadian dollar thundered lower 0.34 cents to 73.03 cents U.S.

Among stocks, Linamar Corp sank $5.85, or 9.6%, to $54.83, and Magna International dropped $3.16, or 4.6%, to $65.93, after
Scotiabank trimmed its price targets, saying a likely recession in 2023 and higher energy prices in Europe may lead to lower sales volumes of auto makers and component manufacturers, and pose headwinds to margins.

Ero Copper jumped $1.32, or 9.3%, to $15.47, after it announced the discovery of a regional nickel sulphide system within the Curaçá Valley over an initial strike length of five kilometres.

On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported Gross Domestic Product for July edged up 0.1%.

Also on the board today the number of employees receiving pay or benefits from their employer—measured by the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours—edged up by 12,900 (+0.1%) in July, bringing the total increase to nearly 1.3 million (+7.9%) since July 2021.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 7.21 points, or 1.2%, to 580.36.

All but one of the 12 TSX subgroups stayed in the red, with health-care wounded 3.2%, information technology sliding 2.4%, and consumer discretionary stocks off 2.1%.

Only gold prospered, and only 0.5% at that.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks slumped Thursday, giving back some gains from the prior day’s rally, as a decline in Apple shares weighed on the major averages.

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The Dow Jones Industrials dumped 446.14 points, or 1.5%, to break for lunch at 29,237.60

The S&P 500 parted with 78.33 points, or 2.1%, to 3,640.96.

The NASDAQ Composite flopped 328.86 points, or 3.1%, to 11,687.85.

The selloff was broad-based with just three stocks in the S&P 500 trading higher at one point during the session. There are now six gainers in the broader market index.

Apple shares fell more than 4% after Bank of America downgraded the tech stock to neutral from buy, and slashed its price target, citing weaker consumer demand for the iPhone maker.

Wednesday’s rally put the major averages on pace for a losing week and their worst month since June. The NASDAQ is leading the monthly losses, down about 9%, while the Dow looks to lose 7% and S&P is on pace to close 7.7% lower.

A stronger-than-expected jobless claims report didn’t help sentiment, building on the notion that the Federal Reserve will keep doing aggressive rate hikes to fight inflation without concern it’s going to hurt the labour market.

Treasury prices regained lost ground, lowering yields back to Wednesday’s 3.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite direction.

Oil prices gained 50 cents to $81.63 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices inched forward $1.90 to $1,671.90 U.S. an ounce.