North American equities were victim of newly-engendered recession fears, and headed almost uniformly downward Monday.
The TSX Composite Index dumped 378.05 points, or 1.5%, to close Monday at 24,380.71
The Canadian dollar sagged 0.32 cents to 69.25 cents U.S.
Meanwhile, former central banker Mark Carney won the race to become leader of the Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister.
Carney, a political novice, argued that he was best placed to revive the party and to oversee trade negotiations with Trump, who had threatened additional tariffs on Friday.
Investor focus is also on the Bank of Canada meeting this week, where the central bank is likely to cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
In corporate news, Japan’s Seven & i Holdings said that talks have begun with Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard over a store sale plan that would set the stage for ACT’s $47 -billion takeover bid.
Couche-Tard shares faltered $1.30, or 1.8%, to $71.45.
Whitecap Resources fell $1.36, or 14.6%, to $7.99, making it the worst hit on the TSX, after the Canadian oil producer was set to merge with peer Veren in an all-stock deal valued at $15 billion including debt.
Gold and materials stocks felt around for the bruises Monday, with Algoma Steel falling $1.11, or 12.1%, to $8.06, while Capstone Mining doffing 86 cents, or 11%, to $6.98.
Seabridge Gold was pounded $1.59, or 9.5%, to $15.12, while Oceanagold retreated 26 cents, or 6.6%, to $3.67.
In tech issues, Bitfarms dipped 19 cents, or 10.6%, to $1.60, while BlackBerry was clobbered 46 cents, or 7.1%, to $6.05.
BCE led telecoms higher, one of the few upward sectors, picking up 79 cents, or 2.2%, to $36.40, while Telus captured 49 cents, or 2.2%, to $23.26.
In utilities, Brookfield Renewable gained $1.02, or 3.2%, to $33.36, while Altagas was in the plus column $1.11, or 3%, to $38.53.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 19.56 points, or 3.2%, to conclude Monday at 594.74.
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups lost ground Monday, with information technology sliding 3.6%, while materials flopped 2.7% and gold gave up 2%
The two gainers proved to be telecoms, ahead 1.1%, while utilities improved 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
A three-week market selloff intensified on Monday, with investors worried that tariff policy uncertainty would tip the economy into a recession, something President Donald Trump did not rule out over the weekend in an interview.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 890.01 points, or 2.1%, to 41,911.71
The S&P 500 index stumbled 155.63 points, or 2.7%, to 5,614.56.
The NASDAQ Composite retreated 727.90 points, or 4%, to 17,468.33.
The S&P 500 is off 8.7% from its all-time high reached Feb. 19, and the NASDAQ Composite is off nearly 14% from its recent high. A 10% decline is considered a correction on Wall Street.
The “Magnificent Seven” cohort — once the stars of this bull market — led the declines Monday as investors dumped the group for perceived safer plays. Tesla tumbled 15% for its worst day since 2020, while Alphabet and Meta fell more than 4%. AI darling Nvidia lost 5%. Palantir, another once-loved stock by retail traders, was down 10%.
Stocks have been under pressure as investors fret over a possible recession due to tariffs implemented by the Trump administration. Part of the concern is that these levies could drive prices higher, thus making it harder for the Federal Reserve to lower rates.
Worries have been increasing about the economy in the last month, sparked initially by some soft data that appeared to be in reaction to the tariff policy back-and-forth and then fueled further by some recent comments by the White House.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday told CNBC that there could be a “detox period” for the economy as the new administration cuts government spending. Then in an interview that aired Sunday, Trump responded to a question on Fox News about the possibility of a recession by saying the economy was going through “a period of transition.”
“What I have to do is build a strong country,” Trump said. “You can’t really watch the stock market.”
Last week, the S&P 500 lost 3.1% for its worst weekly mark since September. The Dow fell 2.4%, while the NASDAQ shed 3.5%. Over the past month, the S&P 500 has lost 6%. and NASDAQ are down 9%, while the Dow is down 4.5%.
The declines in the S&P 500 would have been worse, were it not for a rotation into some more defensive areas of the market that have steady revenue and pay a dividend. Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson both added 1%.
The turbulence could continue this week, with a heavy dose of economic data adding to the list of potential market-moving events. On the inflation front, the February consumer price index release is slated for Wednesday, followed by the producer price index on Thursday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rocketed, lowering yields to 4.22% from Friday’s 4.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices backtracked $1.09 to $65.95 U.S. a barrel.
Prices for gold fell $23.90 an ounce to $2,890.20 U.S.
