Falling bank shares caused Canada’s stock exchange to backpedal today.
The TSX finished 45 points lower, pulled down by the financials sector which slipped 0.7 percent.
Weighting the sector were drops in shares of Royal Bank, TD Bank, and Bank of Montreal, which fell between 0.5 and 0.8 percent.
The TSX lost ground despite gains in six of 11 major sectors.
On Wall Street, fresh optimism regarding U.S./China trade relations sparked healthy gains on the Dow earlier in the day, before the index pulled back to finish 27 points higher.
Sources say that America has reached out to China, proposing a new round of negotiations. This news comes less than a week after Trump said he was “ready to go” with his plans to impose $267 billion of additional tariffs on China.
The Nasdaq sunk 18 points with FANG stocks among the biggest drags. Shares in Facebook, Apple, and Amazon and Google parent Alphabet dropped on news of a Senate hearing set for Sept. 26, when tech companies will be asked to explain their safeguards regarding consumer data privacy.
The imminent threat of Hurricane Florence making landfall on the U.S.’s Carolina coastline combined with a decline in U.S. crude inventories lifted the price of oil today.
Supply concerns had oil moving $1.08 higher to $70.33 US a barrel.
Reported headway in Canada/U.S. trade talks strengthened the loonie which moved up another 39/100ths of a cent to $0.7691 US, while gold climbed to its highest level in two weeks, jumping $9.40 to $1,206 an ounce.
