Wall Street selloff resumes, accelerates
Posted February 8, 2018 1:04 pm.
Last Updated February 8, 2018 1:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, ON. (NEWS 1130) – Fear about the effects of rising interest rates hit Wall Street hard today.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1,033 points or 4.2 per cent to 23,860.
The benchmark S&P 500 Index dropped 101 points of 3.8 per cent to 2,581, its lowest since November. Canadian stocks lost about half a much.
The Dow and the S&P 500 are both 10 per cent below the record highs the indexes set just two weeks ago, putting them in what is known on Wall Street as a “correction.”
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq composite index was down 274.82 points, or 3.90 per cent, to 6,777.16.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 264.97 points, or 1.73 per cent, to 15,065.61, in a broad-based decline. Gold was the only positive sector on the commodity-heavy index as more investors shifted toward the safe-haven asset.
The April gold bullion contract was up US$4.40 to US$1,319.00 an ounce.
Worries about inflation set the market rout in motion last Friday, and many market watchers have been predicting a pullback after the market’s relentless march higher over the past year.
In currency markets, the Canadian dollar closed at an average trading value of 79.46 cents US, down 0.25 of a U.S. cent. The loonie has been sliding since last week as jittery investors have turned to the greenback as a safe haven.
Elsewhere in commodities, the March crude contract was down 64 cents to US$61.15 per barrel and the March natural gas contract was down one cent to US$2.70 per mmBTU. The March copper contract was down one cent to US$3.08 a pound.
