Everything is tied to oil now.
Thanks Harper.
The close: TSX falls as oil resumes slide
A renewed drop in oil prices due to worries about a global supply glut on Monday hurt North American and European stock markets and weighed on the dollar following a rebound in those sectors late last week.
Anxiety about the drag from tumbling energy prices on global economic growth and central bank policies revived safe-haven demand for the yen, gold and U.S. government debt.
Crude oil prices fell more than 5 per cent as Iraq announced record-high oil production feeding into a heavily oversupplied market, wiping out much of the gains made in one of the biggest-ever daily rallies last Friday.
“The news that Iraq has probably hit another record builds on the oversupply sentiment,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
Declines in energy prices, as well as a slumping economy, have driven consumer confidence in Canada to a record low. Data showed the Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index measuring optimism on personal finance, job security, housing and the economy fell to 52.3 from 53 a week earlier.
On Monday, the Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 246.4 points, or 1.99 per cent, to 12,143.42. Eight of the index’s 10 main sectors declined, led by an 5-per-cent drop by energy stocks.
Suncor Energy Inc declined 4.4 per cent and Canadian Natural Resources fell 4.5 per cent. Penn West Petroleum Ltd was down 10 per cent.
Financial stocks in the S&P/TSX index lost 1.7 per cent. Tricon Capital Group Inc. and Genworth MI Canada Inc. led declines, erasing at least 4.3 per cent. The group has lost almost 7 per cent since the start of the year.
Royal Bank of Canada fell 3.3 per cent, and Toronto-Dominion Bank declined 2.9 per cent. Insurer Manulife Financial Corp lost 2.7 per cent.
The close: TSX falls as oil resumes slide - The Globe and Mail