The week has not been a bright one for Canada’s main stock index.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 0.55 per cent, closing at 19,890.06 on Tuesday and recording its fourth decline in four consecutive business days. Tuesday’s closing level was the lowest since July 2021.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index was down nearly 10 per cent from its March 29 closing record high. A stock market correction is confirmed when an index closes 10 per cent or more below its record peak closing level. Market corrections can happen to individual assets, like an individual stock or bond, or to an index measuring a group of assets.
Last Friday the S&P/TSX Composite Index had fallen to a ten-week low, dropping below the 20,500 and inching toward levels not seen since October. On the same day, Statistics Canada released employment data that showed a 5.2-per-cent decline in employment rate in April, the lowest in data since 1976.
Last month Bank of Canada announced that March 2022 recorded an inflation rate of 6.7 per cent, which was a 31-year high.
Since the beginning of 2022, the TSX has dropped 6.3 per cent. However, in comparison with some top world stock markets, it has fared much better. For example, the American S&P 500 has lost 16.1 per cent since the beginning of the year.
However, these are all the effects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. They have brought instability and uncertainty across the globe, and countries are searching for ways to adjust to them.
Focusing on the market sectors, stocks of healthcare, tech and energy sectors were the worst hit today. Health care dropped by 6.1 percent and energy went down 2.6 percent.
The construction industry is feeling the impact of the volatility in the market with the cost of lumber doubling since November, and steel is up around 15 per cent from its 2021 peak. The soaring cost of fuel has impacted shipping costs, thereby worsening the case of the construction industry and its workers.
The loonie rebounded from an 18-month low against the greenback as equity markets globally gained ground after a three-day slump fueled by further interest rate hikes and higher coronavirus lockdowns in China.
U.S. crude prices settled 3.2 per cent lower at $99.76 a barrel with imminent European Union sanctions on Russian oil dangling over the Eastern European country over the invasion of Ukraine.
Gold dropped by 0.9 per cent, hovering around $1,837 per ounce.
The materials group, which incorporates precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, lost 0.5 per cent.
Amid the record-high national gas prices, Calgary’s Oilsands giant Suncor said that it tripled its profits, collecting 2.95 B in the first quarter up from $821M in the same period last year.
TSX listed Pet Value surged up over 22 per cent, while overall revenue climbed 25 per cent to $213 million.
Market movers
Over the first half of the week, our readers have been most interested in the technology, energy, mining, and consumer sectors.
Plusgrade agreed to acquire Points.com (PTS) in an all-cash transaction.
Decklar has begun shipping crude oil to market from its Oza Oil Field in Nigeria.
Carbeeza closed a non-brokered private placement for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,000,000.
Electra Battery Materials extended mineralization east of the current deposit at its Iron Creek cobalt-copper mineral project in Idaho.
Plant&Co. Brands acquired a controlling interest in Heal Lifestyle Inc, which operates three plant-based quick-serve restaurants in Southern Ontario.
Capital raises announced in the past two days include PowerBand Solutions, and Pure Gold Mining.
