TSX Down Nearly 2% As Stocks Tumble On Growth Worries

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is languishing deep down in negative territory in late afternoon trades on Monday due to heavy selling across the board amid rising fears of a recession in the U.S. and uncertainty about the outlook for global economic growth.

U.S. President Donald Trump in a Fox News interview on Sunday declined to rule out the possibility of a recession following his tariff actions on Mexico, Canada and China.

"There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America," Trump told the "Sunday Morning Futures" program.

Investors look ahead to the Bank of Canada's interest rate decsion on Wednesday.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 488.51 points or 1.97% at 24,270.25 a little while ago.

Technology, materials, industrials, real estate and financials shares are among the major losers. Communications stocks are bucking the trend, with several stocks in the sector making notable progress up north.

Methanex is plunging more than 14%. The company announced that its 1.8 million tonne methanol G3 plant in Geismar, Louisiana was impacted by an unplanned outage in late February.

Whitecap Resources, Aritzia, Lundin Gold, BlackBerry, Teck Resources, Shopify, First Quantum Minerals, Celestica, Bombardier and Equinox Gold are some of the big losers.

Franco-Nevada Corp is gaining about 1.5%. The gold-focused royalty and streaming company, reported Monday that it turned around to a net income of $175.4 million in its fourth quarter from prior year's net loss of $982.5 million.

Earnings per share were $0.91, compared to loss per share of $5.11 a year ago. Adjusted net income was $183.3 million, compared to $172.9 million last year. Adjusted net income per share were $0.95, compared to prior year's $0.90.

Crescent Point Energy is soaring 18%. Corus Entertainment is up 5.3% and Keyera is gaining 3.2%. Brookfield Renewable, AltaGas, Algonquine Power, and BCE are up 2 to 3%.