Canadian Market Down Sharply On Heavy Selling As Trump's Tariffs Hurt Sentiment

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are deep down in the red on Thursday, hurt by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcement that is likely to trigger a global trade war, which could push up inflation and hinder economic growth.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which crashed to 24,429.24, losing about 880 points, was down 737.43 points or 2.91% at 24,569.75 a little while ago.

Trump announced a 10% universal tariff on most imported goods along with additional high tariffs on countries the U.S. considers the "worst offenders" based on trade deficits and non-tariff barriers.

The move marks one of the boldest protectionist pushes in recent history and sparked concerns over inflation and growth.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged trading partners against taking retaliatory steps against the new set of tariffs. "As long as you don't retaliate this is the high end of the number," Bessent told Bloomberg Television.

Except consumer staples sector and to a lesser extent communications and utilities sections, which are finding modest support, stocks from the rest of the sectors are reeling under a severe bout of selling pressure.

Technology stocks are the worst hit, and the index tracking their movements, is down as much as 9%. The Energy Capped Index is down 5.8%, while the Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary Indexes are down 3.5% and 3%, respectively.

Financials, industrials, real esate and materials stocks are also sharply lower.

Aritzia is plunging 20%, Shopify is down 18.7%, Celestica Inc is plummeting 15.1% and Spin Master Corp is tanking 12.3%.

International Petroleum, Ero Copper, Capstone Mining, Vermilion Energy, Baytex Energy, Gildan Activewear, Teck Resources, TFI International, Precision Drilling, MEG Energy Corp, HudBay Minerals, Methanex Corp, CES Energy and BlackBerry are down 8 to 11%.

Dollarama is gaining more than 4.5%. Loblaw Companies, Hydro One, Quebecor, Lundin Gold, Wesdome Gold Mines and Canadian Utilities are up 2 to 2.7%.

On the economic front, data from S&P Global said the S&P Global Canada Composite PMI slipped to 42 in March, down from 46.8 in February.

The Services PMI dropped to 41.2 in March from 46.6 in February, and manufacturing PMI fell to 46.3 from 47.8.

Canada posted a trade deficit of CAD 1.5 billion in February 2025, shifting from a downwardly revised 32-month high surplus of CAD 3.1 billion in the prior month, data from Statistics Canada showed. Exports decreased 5.5% over a month, while imports rose 0.8%.