S&P/TSX composite down more than 80 points, U.S. markets mixed Thursday
Global News
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 81.70 points at 20,417.61.
Canada’s main stock index was down more than 80 points Thursday, led by losses in energy and metals, while U.S. markets were mixed after key data releases showed the economy continues to slow.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 81.70 points at 20,417.61.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 221.82 points at 33,309.51. The S&P 500 index was down 7.02 points at 4,130.62, while the Nasdaq composite was up 22.07 points at 12,328.51.
U.S. jobless claims rose last week to their highest level in a year and a half at 264,000, around 20,000 more than analysts were expecting. Meanwhile, the Producer Price Index showed that wholesale prices in the U.S. rose modestly in April, the 10th straight slowdown for the figure.
“The biggest thing we got from the PPI and the jobless report (seems to be) that the economy is losing steam or slowing down, which in the big picture is what the government wants,” said Michael Currie, senior investment adviser at TD Wealth.
“The market’s caught on both sides,” he added. “If it looks like the economy’s slowing, people are worried we’re going into recession. If it looks like the economy’s strong, looks like they’re going to hike rates more. And nobody wants either one.”
In the longer term it’s good news that the economy is slowing, but in the short term markets seem to see it as bad news, “even though we knew it was coming,” said Currie.
As usual, the rate-sensitive tech sector reacted with more optimism to the economic data that bolsters expectations of a rate pause by the Federal Reserve at its next meeting, Currie said.
