Canadian Markets Drop After Shooting on Parliament Hill

Update, 4:00 p.m. EST

The situation in Ottawa continues to unfold, with two deaths reported so far — one soldier and one gunman. Police have not commented on the identity of the gunman, nor have they confirmed whether any other suspects are on the loose.

In terms of the market, analysts have stepped forward to say that the TSX’s drop earlier this morning was not related to the shooting. “The move was trading down at the open, it was already in that trend, so the decline was to be expected,” Michael Greenberg, portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton Solutions Group, told CTV News.

The TSX closed at 14,312.07 points, down 235.6 points, or 1.3 percent.

South of the border, US stocks dropped as the news unfolded and investors reacted to the uncertainty caused by the shooting. The S&P 500 futures and NASDAQ 100 futures fell in the afternoon, with the S&P dropping 14.17 points and the NASDAQ dropping 36.63 points.

“It hits close to home, and with everything going on in the world, perhaps it’s a contributor,” Stephen Carl, head equity trader at the Williams Capital Group, told CNBC.

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Original post, 11:00 a.m. EST

Both the TSX and the Canadian dollar dropped on Wednesday morning after reports of a gunman making his way to Parliament Hill, Ottawa and opening fire. By 10:40 a.m. EST, the TSX had dropped 99.17 points (0.68 percent), with the dollar dropping half a cent, to $0.8857. The TSX Venture dropped 1.77 points for a loss of 0.22 percent.

Both the TSX and the TSX Venture had been seeing brief gains on Wednesday morning, but the news out of Ottawa rocked investor confidence.

According to Jason MacDonald, director of communications for the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister is safe and has left parliament.

Click here for live coverage from CBC on the situation.