North American stock markets were looking for some direction Tuesday as investors moved to the safety of gold in the wake of deadly attacks in Belgium.
Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 67.60 points to 13,493.49 after bombings at Brussels Airport and a subway station earlier in the day that killed at least 31 people and wounded nearly 190. Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level, while airports across Europe tightened security.
News of the initial attacks sent stock markets lower, but by the end of the day, most indexes had recovered somewhat from early weakness.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 41.30 points at 17,582.57, while the broader S&P 500 was barely changed, down just 1.8 points at 2,049.80. The Nasdaq composite moved up 12.79 points to 4,821.66.
“In the long term, it doesn’t have that big of a impact on the global economy or corporate earnings,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Canada. “For the broad economy and the broad industry, people go on.”
Similar attacks in the past have hit certain industries harder than others, and that was evident on the TSX where the industrials sector, which includes major airlines and railways, was the biggest percentage loser.
Shares in Air Canada (TSX:AC) and WestJet (TSX:WJA) fell more than 2% each; while Canadian National (TSX:CNR) lost 2.4% and Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX:CP) was down 3.5%.
But the loonie more than held its own, gaining 0.30 of a U.S. cent to 76.72 cents US.
Investors put their money in bullion, as the price for April gold rose $4.40 to US$1,248.60 a troy ounce. Typically, gold is seen as a safe haven in turbulent times.
Meanwhile, the May contract for benchmark North American crude fell seven cents to US$41.45 a barrel, while April natural gas added four cents to US$1.86 per mmBtu. May copper was unchanged at US$2.29 a pound.
Cieszynski said investors may be taking a breather from the volatility on stock markets and commodities prices since the start of the year.
“For scheduled news, it’s a pretty quiet week. It’s also a short (holiday) week, so a lot of markets are pausing to catch their breath after the big sell-off and big recovery we’ve seen in the last three months,” he said.
“People are just a little weary and taking a break here. Interestingly enough, when we look at the broad market, with what happened, today was a day where you could’ve seen the Dow easily down 100 points. … There was every reason to have a correction, and if we didn’t get one, then that tells me we’re more likely to pause then to sell off.”