TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index fell by almost 1.5 per cent Thursday with broad-based declines, while U.S. stock markets fell even further a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate and said it expects rates still needed to go higher.
“Unfortunately, yesterday’s news is today’s news,” said Michael Currie, senior investment adviser at TD Wealth.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 291.02 points at 19,600.63.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 764.13 points, or 2.25 per cent, at 33,202.65. The S&P 500 index was down 99.57 points, or 2.49 per cent, at 3,895.75, while the Nasdaq composite was down 360.36 points, or 3.23 per cent, at 10,810.53.
The bulk of Thursday’s slump can be attributed to a delayed reaction to Wednesday’s rate hike announcement and hawkish messaging from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, said Currie.
However, there are other data points adding to the downturn, he said, like falling retail sales in the U.S. amid continued strength in the labour market. The European Union also raised rates by half a percentage point Thursday, echoing the Fed’s announcement.
The Nasdaq is seeing a more dramatic loss because the tech sector is more sensitive to interest rates, said Currie.
This is borne out in year-to-date numbers too, which show the Nasdaq is down by almost 32 per cent while the S&P 500 is down by almost 19 per cent.
“That’s a pretty big disparity between two big U.S. indexes,” said Currie. “If we’ve learned nothing this year, we’ve learned that the tech sector is much more sensitive to rates than any other sector.”
Powell’s comments, which made clear plans to continue raising rates, were sharper than those by Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem earlier this week. Macklem said the central bank plans to be data-driven in its approach, leaving the door open to an end to rate hikes in Canada.
“Now, we started sooner, and we did it faster. But there’s definitely an inkling that the Canadian markets are closer to the end of the hiking cycle than the American markets are,” said Currie.
This may be why Canada’s TSX isn’t down by as dramatic a percentage as American markets despite the fact all the major sectors are in the red, said Currie.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.31 cents US compared with 73.74 cents US on Wednesday.
The January crude oil contract was down US$1.17 at US$76.11 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up 54 cents at US$6.97 per mmBTU.
The February gold contract was down US$30.90 at US$1,787.80 an ounce and the March copper contract was down 12 cents at US$3.76 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2022.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX_CADUSD=X)
