North American markets started the week by closing lower on a broad-based decline led by the tech sector, while oil losses stretched to an 11th day.
The rebound after October’s selloff lost steam Monday as some of the highest performing names from earlier in the year are becoming the laggards approaching the end of the year, says Craig Fehr, Canadian markets strategist for Edward Jones.
Some of the world’s largest technology companies, including Amazon and Microsoft, suffered losses on the day as Apple Inc. closed down 5%.
Fehr said the selloff isn’t a signal of broader economic or market issues that could drive further losses.
“I would look at today’s downdraft as probably not necessarily the canary in the coal mine for something much worse to come from an economic or market level,” he said in an interview.
But he warned there isn’t an end in sight for recent market volatility.
“I think we’re going to get more of these bigger swings in the market as optimism pops back in to capture opportunities and then pessimism swings back in either to just take profits or to really focus on a narrow set of risks in the market.”
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 118.04 points to 15,156.40 after hitting a high of 15,263.74.
Most sectors lost ground, led by health care and technology along with key materials, energy and industrial stocks. Defensive sectors like real estate, telecommunications and utilities closed higher.
The performance of the industrials sector is a reflection of being in the later stages of the bull run along with an undercurrent about global trade worries and what that means for overall global growth, said Fehr.
In New York, U.S. markets lost between 2% and nearly 3%. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 602.12 points or 2.3% to 25,387.18. The S&P 500 index was down 54.79 points at 2,726.22, while the Nasdaq composite closed off 2.78% or 206.03 points to 7,200.87.
The December crude contract was down US26¢ at US$59.93 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was up US6.9¢ at US$3.79 per mmBTU.
Oil prices again lost ground despite some signals from Saudi Arabia that OPEC might cut production by about 1 million barrels a day. That prompted a reaction from U.S. President Donald Trump who tweeted that he hopes that doesn’t happen.
“Oil prices should be much lower based on supply!” he wrote.
Fehr said supply pressure and concerns about global demand produce a headwind to oil prices.
“We could see a reflex in global growth that could prompt slightly higher oil prices but I would say oil is certainly facing plenty of headwinds when you look at that supply and demand dynamic and I don’t think that’s going to change in the immediate future.”
Figures for the Canadian dollar weren’t available at deadline.
The December gold contract was down US$5.10 at US$1,203.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 0.8 of a cent at US$2.68 a pound.