Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Canada's main stock index bounced back near the end of day to avoid its weakest close in 15 months, but still ended down on commodity weakness with crude oil and metals sinking on recession fears.
“It is the fifth day in a row that the TSX underperforms the S&P, which has not happened this year yet,” said Jules Boudreau, an economist at Mackenzie Investments.
“So definitely after a very good start to the year for the Canadian market, we're getting a bit of a slump.”
Energy was the leading driver, falling 3.9 per cent as crude oil prices dropped further below US$100 a barrel, which is surprising because there was some positive economic news Wednesday out of the U.S., he said.
Purchasing managers index (PMI) data was a “super positive surprise,” while job openings numbers, watched closely by the Federal Reserve, showed the labour market remains hot. Although job openings fell in May, they still outnumbered available workers by almost two-to-one.
“So it's a little bit weird to still be seeing that commodity weakness when we haven't seen a big deterioration in actual demand indicators today,” Boudreau said in an interview.
Supply remains a challenge for crude while demand is lower due to technical trading factors along with recession fears.
“There has been momentum going towards a recession and I think that's been going on today even with the positive economic indicators.”
The August crude contract was down 97 cents at US$98.53 per barrel after hitting an intraday low of US$95.10 and the August natural gas contract was down 1.3 cents at US$5.51 per mmBTU.
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd. lost 6.9 per cent and Athabasca Oil Corp. was down 6.6 per cent on the day.
The Canadian dollar fell further and traded for 76.65 cents US, after losing more than one cent to 76.70 cents US on Tuesday.
Materials dipped as gold prices closed at the lowest level since September and copper fell to a 19-month low.
The August gold contract was down US$27.40 at US$1,736.50 an ounce and the September copper contract was down seven tenths of a cent at nearly US$3.41 a pound.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 104.50 points to 18,729.66 after reaching an intraday low of 18,543.93.
Like the TSX, U.S. stock markets got a lift after the Fed released minutes from its June meeting that provided no surprises or hints of even more aggressive hiking of interest rates.
“In particular, participants judged that an increase of 50 or 75 basis points would likely be appropriate at the next meeting,” said the minutes.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 69.86 points at 31,037.68. The S&P 500 index was up 13.69 points at 3,845.08, while the Nasdaq composite was up 39.61 points at 11,361.85.
Bond yields remain inverted with the two-year being higher than the 10-year treasuries.
That has been a good signal in the past of a recession but the timing of such a downturn is unclear, said Boudreau.
“If you ask me, are we gonna have a recession in the next three years? Yes, probably, almost certainly. But if you ask me, are we going to get one in the next 12 months, I think that's still less than a 50 per cent proposition?
And any such recession is likely to be mild, he said.
Of secondary concern is that the typical central bank monetary policy easing that comes with a recession might not happen this time as it fights very high inflation.
So there's a dual fear of a recession and maybe the Fed doesn't respond to it right away, Boudreau said.
Telecommunications was one of the losing sectors with shares of Shaw Communications Inc. and Rogers Communications Inc. dropping 3.3 and 2.0 per cent respectively after they announced that mediated talks failed to resolve the Competition Bureau's objections to the merger.
Technology was also down with Lightspeed Commerce Inc. down 6.1 per cent and Shopify Inc. 2.9 per cent lower.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2022.
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Three people have been arrested and charged in the killing of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – as authorities continue investigating potential connections to the Indian government.
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
RCMP say human remains found in a rural area in central Saskatchewan may have been there for a decade or more.
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Drew Carey took over as host of 'The Price Is Right' and hopes he’s there for life. 'I'm not going anywhere,' he told 'Entertainment Tonight' of the job he took over from longtime host Bob Barker in 2007.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.