TSX Shares in Downward Momentum

(CONTAINS CHANGE, TSX FINISHED NEGATIVE, NOT POSITIVE)

The general gloom on equity markets pervaded Toronto, where indices proceeded uniformly down Thursday.

The TSX Composite Index came off its lows of the day, but remained negative 324.48 points, or 1.9%, to finish Thursday an hour early at 16,717.44.

Trading abruptly ended around 3:15 P.M. EST on the Toronto Stock Exchange and several other TMX Group Ltd. markets after the company suspended the exchanges because of what it says were technical issues.

The Canadian dollar slumped 0.19 cents to 74.73 cents U.S.

The chief loser among sector was in gold, where Eldorado Gold lost $1.26, or 8.8%, to $13.09, while IAMGOLD faltered 31 cents, or 7%, to $4.10.

Among health-care issues, HEXO doffed 11 cents, or 6.6%, to $1.56, while Bausch Health Companies tumbled $2.01, of 6.2%, to $30.55.

Materials also took it on the chin, as Silvercorp Metals docked 34 cents, or 6.7%, to $4.74, while Pan American Silver let go of $2.67, or 8.3%. to $29.61.

On the economic front, Statistics Canada revealed the average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees were $1,042 in December, little changed from November. On a year-over-year basis, says the agency, earnings grew 3.4%, the effect of an increase observed from March to October.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange lost 25.01 points, or 4.6%, Thursday to 520.59

All 12 TSX subgroups were lower on the day, with gold falling 4.3%, health-care stumbling 3.6%, and materials slouching 3.2%.

ON WALLSTREET

Stocks fell sharply in volatile trading Thursday as investors worried the coronavirus may be spreading in the U.S. A slew of corporate and analyst warnings on the virus also dragged down the major averages.

The Dow Jones Industrials hurtled lower 1,190.95 points, or 2.3%, to conclude Thursday at 25,766.64.

The broader S&P 500 was pummeled 137.63 points, or 4.4%, to 2,978.76.

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The tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 414.30 points, or 4.6%, to 8,771.19.

Those losses put the Dow in correction territory, down 10% from its record close to where the industrials are trading at now. The S&P 500 was in correction territory on an intraday basis. It took the Dow just 10 sessions to tumble from the all-time high. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ set record highs last week.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 had their worst day since February 2018 while the NASDAQ posted its biggest one-day loss since August 2011.

The Dow and S&P 500 were also on pace for their worst weekly performance since 2008. Through Thursday’s close, the Dow was down more than 11% week to date while the S&P 500 had lost 10.8%.

Apple, Intel and Exxon Mobil were among the worst-performing Dow stocks Thursday, dropping at least 6% each. AMD moved lower 7.3%, and Nvidia fell 5.6%.

Microsoft warned Wednesday it will not meet its revenue guidance for a key segment. In a statement, its supply chain is “returning to normal operations at a slower pace than anticipated,” which led the tech giant to cut its forecast for its personal computing division.

Personal computing accounted for 36% of Microsoft’s overall revenue during the previous quarter. Microsoft shares were down 7.1%.
PayPal also issued a warning about its outlook. The stock traded 1.3% lower.

The Centers for Disease Control confirmed on Wednesday the first U.S. coronavirus case of unknown origin in Northern California, indicating possible "community spread" of the disease. The CDC doesn’t know exactly how the patient, a California resident, contracted the virus.

President Donald Trump tried to assuage concerns over the outbreak. Trump said in a news conference Wednesday night the risk of coronavirus to people in the U.S. is still "very low."

He added the U.S. is going to "spend whatever’s appropriate" to deal with the virus. Trump also put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the U.S. response to the coronavirus. The president added stocks should recover from their recent swoon.

Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury jumped, lowering yields to 1.27% from Wednesday’s 1.34%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices faded $1.91 to $46.82 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices lost $5.50 to $1,637.60 U.S. an ounce.