Morning Market Breakdown, March 23: Markets Attempt to Recover

Thursday (March 22) saw losses in the hundreds for the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX), which dropped 275.35 points to end the day at 15,399.93.

Friday (March 23) morning saw a small improvement of 30.31 points to reach 15,430.24.

The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) stumbled on Thursday when it fell 14.07 points to close at 817.08. The TSXV found small gains on Friday morning as it picked up 7.7 points to reach 824.78.

Tech and healthcare stocks dragged the TSX down yesterday, as Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) fell 4.5 percent while RepliCel Life Sciences (TSXV:RP) dropped 10.5 percent. Meanwhile, BlackBerry (TSX:BB) continued to fall, losing 2.1 percent, and Constellation Software (TSX:CSU) misplaced 2.7 percent. The only TSX subgroup to stay in the green Thursday was utilities, which gained 0.7 percent.

Thursday was an especially tough day for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI), which plunged 724.42 points to close at 23,957.89. Friday morning it was boosted 84.7 points to 24,042.59.

The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) plummeted on Thursday when it lost 68.24 points to close at 2,643.69. The index got a modest boost of 6.41 points to 2,650.1 on Friday morning.

American stocks trembled as a potential trade war began brewing on Thursday when US President Donald Trumpordered $50 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods. Boeing (NYSE:BA), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) and 3M (NYSE:MMM) were the biggest negative influences on the Dow yesterday, while financials and tech were just some of the sectors that brought down the S&P.

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

Daily metals

Gold kept things smooth and steady Thursday when it closed at US$1,330.88 per ounce. Friday morning it got a major boost when it reached US$1,348.22. Silver balanced out on Thursday as it closed at US$16.43 per ounce. The metal skyrocketed when it landed at US$16.62 on Friday morning.

Copper slumped on Thursday when it closed at US$3.02 per pound. It continued to slip on Friday morning when it reached US$3.01.

Major miner news

• Wheaton Precious Metals (TSX:WPM,NYSE:WPM): The company announced its Q4 and year-end results for 2017, along with its first quarterly dividend. Highlights include a full-year production total of over 28 million ounces of silver, while its first quarterly dividend for 2018 will be US$0.09 per common share to be issued to shareholders by April 20.

• Centerra Gold (TSX:CG): Centerra Gold reported that its mill operation at the Mount Milligan mine in BC has restarted its second ball mill circuit. This news follows a shutdown reported in December 2017 and an update from February 2018, where one of the two ball mills had gotten back up and running at a reduced capacity.

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