Morning Market Breakdown, March 20: Indexes Dust Themselves Off

The S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) struggled throughout Monday (March 19) and eventually closed at 15,589.39, ending the day with a 121.94-point loss.

Tuesday (March 20) morning it took a small step forward with a 30.98-point gain to 15,620.37.

Managing to barely stay in the green was the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX), which gained 1.77 points to reach 835.44 on Monday. The TSXV then slipped up on Tuesday morning when it fell 4.54 points to 830.9.

While the TSX made some gains on Monday through consumer staples and gold, it got dragged down by the tech and energy sectors. Perpetual Energy (TSX:PMT) and Ensign Energy Services (TSX:ESI) fell 6.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, while BlackBerry (TSX:BB) dropped 2 percent.

Monday was rough on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI), which took a hefty 335.6-point fall, closing at 24,610.91. It gained some traction on Tuesday morning when it picked up 97.98 points to reach 24,708.89.

The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) also took a hit on Monday, dropping 39.09 points to 2,712.92. It managed to jump 5.09 points on Tuesday morning to reach 2,718.01.

The S&P’s tech sector suffered in particular on Monday, dropping 2.1 percent as a whole. The decline followed recent allegations that Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) had leaked information in a data breach that affected over 50 million users during the 2016 presidential election. The social network’s share price dropped around 7 percent yesterday.

Note: All numbers shown above were accurate as of 10:00 a.m. EST.

Daily metals

Gold got a small boost on Monday when it closed at US$1,317.13 per ounce. It hit a snag on Tuesday morning, sinking to US$1,309.53. Silver stabilized on Monday to end at US$16.33 per ounce. However, it lost its grip on Tuesday morning and slid to US$16.18.

Copper fell to US$3.08 per pound by Monday’s close. By 10:00 a.m. EST on Tuesday, it had stumbled further to US$3.04.

Major miner news

• Glencore (LSE:GLEN): In a US$1.7-billion deal, Glencore is acquiring Rio Tinto’s (LSE:RIO,ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO) 82-percent interest in its Hail Creek coal mine and its 71.2-percent interest in its Valeria coal resource, both in Queensland, Australia. The other 18 percent of Hail Creek is owned by Nippon Steel Australia (8 percent), Marubeni Coal (6.67 percent) and Sumisho Coal Development (3.33 percent), all of which have the option to sell their shares to Glencore as a “tag-along” right from the Rio Tinto transaction.

• Glencore (LSE:GLEN): The company also said it will be issuing $500 million non-dilutive cash-settled guaranteed convertible bonds due 2025. The value of each bond will be $200,000; the bonds won’t bear interest and will be issued at a price of 93.25 to 98.25 percent of their nominal value.

• B2Gold (TSX:BTO): The company made a statement on Tuesday responding to recent reports of a new mining code in Mali, where B2Gold currently operates its Fekola mine. B2Gold stated that Fekola’s agreement and construction took place under the 2012 Mali Mining Code, and that it believes any amendments to the code going forward will not be applicable to Fekola’s operations without B2Gold’s agreement.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Olivia Da Silva, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.