The U.S. Federal Reserve raising its interest rate by a quarter point wasn’t enough to boost investor confidence on both sides of the border.
American and Canadian banking stocks initially rose on anticipation of the rate hike, as well as Fed officials offering a positive outlook about U.S. economy.
On Bay Street, slight gains in the financials, tech, and industrials sectors overshadowed dips in energy, materials and health care as the TSX edged nine points higher.
Health care dipped 1.5 percent on what was a down day for the TSX’s mercurial pot stocks. Shares in Aurora Cannabis, Aphria Inc., and Canopy Growth all lost value today.
In New York, comments late in the day by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell dragged down bank stocks as the Dow erased earlier gains by plummeting 106 points.
The Nasdaq lost 17 points with Apple losing 0.8 percent, putting a damper on gains in Facebook and Alphabet.
Facebook rose more than a percent despite yesterday’s news of Instagram’s co-founders quitting the company.
Oil slipped as supply concerns eased, after the U.S. government reported an unexpected jump in domestic crude inventory. Oil prices fell 28 cents to $72.00 US a barrel.
NAFTA concerns caused the loonie to weaken by nearly half a cent.
The dollar lost 41/100ths of a cent to $0.7679 US.
Gold also dropped, down $6.50 to $1,193 an ounce.
