TSX Tumbles 2%; Technology, Financials Stocks Down Sharply

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market is down sharply Thursday afternoon, weighed down by a sell-off in tech stocks amid concerns about high valuations. Shares from healthcare, utilities and financials sectors are the other major losers.

In addition to valuation concerns, uncertainty whether key U.S. economic data will be released following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, appears to be contributing to the weakness.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday that the October jobs and consumer price inflation reports are "likely never being released" as a result of the shutdown.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 614.25 points or 1.99% at 30,313.33 a little while ago.

The Information Technology Index is down 6.56%. Bitfarms is plunging 16.2%, Dye & Durham is down 14.8% and Celestica Inc is down 14.4% due to a rating downgrade.

Shopify Inc is down nearly 7%. Firan Technology Group, Constellation Software, Sangoma Technologies, BlackBerry, Lightspeed Commerce and Coveo Solutions are down 3 to 4%.

Healthcare stocks Curaleaf Holdings and Bausch Health Companies are down 5.1% and 3.2%, respectively.

In the financials sector, Brookfield Corporation is down 8%, Brookfield Asset Management is declining by 5.4%, Sprott is down 3.2% and Goeasy is down by about 2.8%. Onex Corp, Igm Financial, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank and Bank of Montreal are also notably lower.

Ecn Capital is soaring nearly 13%. Dorel Industries is zooming 12.5%. Linamar Corp., Snc Lavalin, Baytex Energy, Endeavour Mining, Extendicare, Thomson Reuters, Loblaw Companies and Birchcliff Energy are also up with strong gains.