North American markets are off to a really rough start today.
On Bay Street it looks like investors are reacting to weak inflation and soft retail numbers, as well as a hammer from China aimed at the agriculture sector. The Chinese government is now refusing to buy Canadian canola outright.
This is believed to be a retaliatory measure over the arrest of Huawei’s CFO back in December. The increased trade tension with China is helping push the TSX down. It’s shed 150 points so far today, sitting at 16,094.
Similar story on Wall Street as the Dow Jones is nose diving. It’s lost 289 points, sitting at 25,672. Oil is down $1.37 to $58.61 U.S. per barrel, gold is up $3.60 to $1,310.90 an ounce, and the loonie is hit a two week low today, down a third of a cent to 74.55 cents U.S.
