Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Markets in Canada and the U.S. closed slightly down Wednesday following two days of optimism at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Stocks were especially under pressure early in the day, however by market close indexes had recovered somewhat from deeper dips.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 135.90 points at 19,235.09 after gaining nearly 500 points on Tuesday.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 42.45 points at 30,273.87. The S&P 500 index was down 7.65 points at 3,783.28, while the Nasdaq composite was down 27.77 points at 11,148.64.
After two days of optimism in the markets at the start of the quarter, on Wednesday the rose-coloured glasses started to come off, said Lyle Stein, president of Forvest Global Wealth Management Inc.
Investors had gained confidence after the Bank of England reversed course and began buying bonds again, and Australia's central bank went for a softer hike than expected, leading investors to wonder whether the Canadian and American central banks might blink as well, said Stein.
"This market is hypersensitive to interest rates," he said.
But while much could change in the coming weeks, so far Stein said the Bank of Canada appears on track to continue along its promised path, more or less.
"My sense is they will be probably less aggressive than they would have been a month ago," he said.
Sentiment is growing that the Fed will also stick to its guns, he said.
"Where we'll wind up is going to be interesting."
With OPEC plus cutting production, the recent downward pressure on inflation might ease off, said Stein, as gas has been a key driver of inflation and the cuts could mean prices at the pump will creep up again.
The November crude contract was up US$1.24 at US$87.76 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up nine cents at US$6.93 per mmBTU.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.31 cents US compared with 73.67 cents US on Tuesday.
The December gold contract was down US$9.70 at US$1,720.80 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$3.50 a pound.
As the final quarter advances, Stein will be watching for U.S. tech earnings as well as energy sector earnings, adding that when the banks report later this year it may shed some light on what's coming in 2023.
"The reality is, we're going into third-quarter earnings season. We're going into a rising rate environment. And, you know, the two things that hurt stocks the most are lower earnings and higher interest rates," he said.
The current market is very macro-driven, making it difficult to predict, said Stein, as the consequences of aggressive rate hikes earlier in the year make themselves known.
"We're at the end of a credit cycle, and the ends of credit cycles never are pretty."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 5, 2022
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.