Large U.S. tech stocks send markets lower with spillover effect felt in Canada

A sign board displays the TSX as women walk past the Richmond Adelaide Centre in the financial district in Toronto on Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Evan Buhler

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index finished more than 570 points lower on Thursday as declines in the U.S. tech sector weighed on markets, with Wall Street posting one of its worst days since April.

Jillian Bryan, senior investment adviser and portfolio manager at TD Wealth, said the decline in the TSX tech sector was a spillover effect from losses in large U.S. tech companies.

“Let’s face it, we’ve had a pretty good year in the market. The Canadian market is down two per cent today, but still up 22 per cent on the year,” she said.

Canadian investors also digested the federal government announcement of the latest batch of major projects to be considered for fast-tracking under legislation passed in June.

Over the short term, Bryan said assessing the market impact would be speculative, “but any time we’re going to be doing more business in this country … that’s good for everybody.”

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 573.94 points at 30,253.64.

The U.S. market tumbled Thursday to one of its worst days since its springtime sell-off, as Nvidia and other AI superstar stocks kept dropping on worries their prices shot too high.

Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the market after the chip company fell 3.6 per cent. Other stocks swept up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy also struggled, including drops of 7.4 per cent for Super Micro Computer, 6.5 per cent for Palantir Technologies and 4.3 per cent for Broadcom.

“Nvidia reports early next week. And that’s going to further test optimism around the technology sector, which has driven markets to new highs, but has come into some scrutiny in the last few weeks,” Bryan said.

“If you take a look at the rotation away from technology to other parts of the market, we haven’t seen that happen in a substantial manner.”

Bryan also highlighted that the market was still digesting the end of the longest U.S. government shutdown in history, which delayed many updates on the U.S. job market, inflation and other signals about the American economy.

Now the market will be watching official U.S. economic data, she noted, after going through a “bit of a vacuum when it comes to data.”

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s job became more difficult recently because of the shutdown that left it less certain about whether the slowing job market or high inflation is the bigger threat.

Bryan also noted that throughout the shutdown, U.S. federal workers have gone without paycheques.

“That getting put back into place helps the wheels of commerce back on its feet,” she said.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 797.60 points at 47,457.22. The S&P 500 index was down 113.43 points at 6,737.49, while the Nasdaq composite was down 536.10 points at 22,870.36.

For the S&P 500, it was the worst day in a month for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts and the second-worst since April’s plunge after U.S. President Donald Trump shocked the world with his “Liberation Day” tariffs.

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.34 cents US compared with 71.40 cents US on Wednesday.

The December crude oil contract was up 20 cents US at US$58.69 per barrel. The December gold contract was down US$19.10 at US$4,194.50 an ounce.

Daniel Johnson, The Canadian Press.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 13, 2025.