Stocks Pounded as Virus Jitters Increase

Stocks in Canada’s largest market fell more than 200 points on Monday as a spike in coronavirus cases outside China led to fears of a pandemic and prompted a broad-based selloff.

The TSX Composite Index tumbled 280.79 points, or 1.6%, to conclude an ugly Monday at 17,562.74.

The Canadian dollar dropped 0.9 cents to 75.25 cents U.S.

Among the sectors which got socked around, health-care took the worst blows, with Cronos Group bludgeoned 93 cents, or 9.9%, to $8.51, while Canopy Growth shed $1.91, or 6.6%, to $27.00.

Energy also got punctured, with ShawCor losing $1.17, or 10.8%, to $9.66, and Enerflex declined 57 cents, or 6.7%, to $7.94.

Tech issues also took something of the brunt of it, with Shopify slipping $34.18, or 5%, to $652.38, while Photon Control lost seven cents, or 5.7%, to $1.16.

Gold tried to alleviate materials, with Eldorado Gold climbing $1.25, or 9.5%, to $14.35, and Iamgold shooting higher 56 cents, or 13.5%, to $4.71.

Materials also improved, with MAG Silver taking on 81 cents, or 5.4%, to $15.90, while Endeavour Mining jumped $1.04, or 3.8%, to $28.28.

On the economic beat, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale trade ended its two-month losing streak, picking up 0.9% to $63.9 billion in December.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange fell 14.92 points, or 2.6%, to 567.75

All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, with, health-care down 4.4%, energy sank 3.7%, and information technology slid 2.8%.

The two gainers were gold, ahead 1.5%, and materials, better by 0.5%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks fell sharply on Monday as the number of coronavirus cases outside China surged, stoking fears of a prolonged global economic slowdown from the virus spreading.

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The Dow Jones Industrials collapsed 1,031.61 points, or 3.6%, to 27,960.80. It was the Dow’s biggest point and percentage-point drop since February 2018. The Dow also gave up its gain for 2020 and is now down 2% for the year

The S&P 500 slumped 111.86 points, or 3.4%, to 3,225.89. The S&P 500 also had its worst day in two years and wiped out its year-to-date gain as well.

The NASDAQ folded 355.31 points, or 3.7%, to 9,221.28.

Coronavirus-impacted names led the way lower. Airline stocks Delta and American were both down more than 6% while United closed 5.4% lower. Shares of casino operators Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts dropped at least 5.2% each. MGM Resorts slid 5.4%.

Chipmakers, which are highly leveraged to the global economy, were also down broadly. Nvidia shares were down 7.1% while Dow-component Intel ended the day down 4%. AMD dipped 7.8%.

Apple and its suppliers took a hit as well. Shares of the iPhone maker were down by 4.8%. Skyworks Solutions and Qorvo dropped more than 1.8% each.

Monday’s moves came as investors watch developments surrounding the coronavirus outbreak that was first reported in China, but has spread rapidly in other countries especially South Korea and Italy, which reported a spike in the number of confirmed cases in recent days.

South Korea raised its coronavirus alert to the “highest level” over the weekend, with the latest spike in numbers bringing the total infected to more than 750 — making it the country with the most cases outside mainland China.

Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury gained sharply, lowering yields to 1.37% from Friday’s 1.47%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices dropped $2.18 to $51.20 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $14.60 to $1,663.40 U.S. an ounce.