Canadian Market Down Sharply As Stocks Tumble On Recession Fears

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks are plunging sharply on Friday with mounting fears of a recession triggering a sell-off across the board.

Most of the markets in Asia and Europe tumbled on selling pressure, and the mood in the U.S. market is quite bearish as well.

Falling commodity prices and data showing a significant drop in Canadian retail sales are adding to the woes.

Crude oil futures are falling more than 6% and Gold futures are down by about 1.6%. Silver futures are lower by 4%.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 571.10 points or 3.01% at 18,431.48 about a quarter past noon.

Energy stocks are seein a free fall, pushing the Energy Capped Index down by over 7%. The Materials Capped Index is down nearly 5%, while the Financials, Real Estate and Consumer Discretionary indexes are down 2.4%, 2.25% and 1.9%, respectively.

Healthcare, industrials and utilities shares are also mostly down with sharp losses.

Precision Drilling Corporation (PD.TO), Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and Canadian Natural Resources (CNQ.TO) are plunging 9 to 10%.

Imperial Oil (IMO.TO), Tourmaline Oil Corp (TOU.TO), Cargojet (CJT.TO), Nutrien (NTR.TO), West Fraser Timber (WFG.TO), goeasy (GSY.TO), Toromont Industries (TIH.TO), Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV.TO) and Fairfax Financial Holdings (FFH.TO) are down 2 to 6%.

Data from Statistics Canada showed retail sales in Canada, excluding autos, saw the biggest decrease since April of 2021, falling 3.1% month-over-month in July of 2022.

Considering July, retail sales fell by 2.5% from a month earlier, above preliminary estimates of a 2% decline and compared to the downwardly revised 1% increase in June.

Retail Sales in Canada increased 8% in July of 2022 over the same month in the previous year.

On Wall Street, the major averages are all down sharply in the red. The Dow is down 2.05%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both are down nearly 2.25%.

The major European markets closed with sharp losses. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 and Germany's DAX both fell nearly 2%. France's CAC 40 drifted down 2.28%, and the pan European Stoxx 600 closed lower by 2.34%.