More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
North American stock markets continued to gyrate Thursday in the aftermath of central bank plans to start raising interest rates in the coming weeks.
Markets received a morning boost after a report that the U.S. economy grew at an annual pace of 6.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, far ahead of expectations, but that energy fell away by afternoon.
Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management, attributed the market volatility to a valuation correction rather than anything being fundamentally wrong in the economies of Canada or the U.S.
"It's a tug of war between the buyers and the sellers. First half of the day, the buyers are winning, the back half of the day it seems that the sellers are applying a little bit more pressure," he said.
The Canadian market has been cheaper than U.S. markets and hasn't seen the same downside volatility, with support from energy that has been strong year-to-date.
"Today, gold is kind of detracting a bit as gold prices are falling, but overall, if you look at it it's a tale of two markets. You have the defensives: consumer staples, communications, utilities versus the expensive information technology," Petursson added.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 51.78 points to 20,544.11 after climbing as much as nearly 257 points in morning trading.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 7.31 points at 34,160.78. The S&P 500 index was down 23.42 points at 4,326.51, while the Nasdaq composite gave up 189.34 points at 13,352.78.
Energy, telecommunications and consumer staples led the TSX with Suncor Energy Inc. increasing 2.6 per cent and Rogers Communications Inc. gaining 3.3 per cent on a strong revenue performance in its latest quarter. Grocer Metro Inc. led the consumer sector by rising 3.6 per cent.
Energy started the day strong, but weakened as crude oil prices moved negative.
The March crude oil contract was down 74 cents at US$86.61 per barrel after reaching a high of US$88.54. The March natural gas contract was up 24.7 cents at US$4.28 per mmBTU.
"Oil has had a strong run year-to-date and it's at a level where I think you can see some of the profit-taking coming into the market," Petursson said to explain the price decline.
He rejected "chatter" that economic growth will slow as rates rise.
"I just think this is a function of oil is hitting levels that we haven't seen in years and so you're seeing the traders, the speculators, come in and take some profits."
The health care sector, which includes the big cannabis producers, lost 2.9 per cent with shares of Aurora Cannabis Inc. off 6.1 per cent and Tilray Inc. down 5.6 per cent.
Technology lost 2.2 per cent as Hut 8 Mining Corp. fell 10.9 per cent and Shopify Inc. lost 5.6 per cent.
The prospect of higher interest rates helped the U.S. dollar and took the shine off gold. U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's statement Wednesday that rates could increase several times without hurting employment was viewed as hawkish.
Materials was down 1.3 per cent as miners lost ground with gold prices decreasing two per cent.
The February gold contract was down US$36.60 at US$1,793.10 an ounce and the March copper contract was down 9.2 cents at US$4.42 a pound.
The Canadian dollar traded for 78.67 cents US compared with 79.33 cents US on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2022.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
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.”