North American markets fall, TSX has triple-digit decline; loonie down

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 109.43 points at 17,367.97, the Nasdaq index dropped 17.51 points to 5,030.73, and the S&P 500 declined 9.81 points to 2,081.73. “Certainly oil hitting new lows is not good for our market”, said Philip Petursson, managing director, capital markets and strategy, at the portfolio advisory group at Manulife Asset Management.

On Monday, the index closed down 26.35 points or 0.18 percent, at 14,251.33. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank led a retreat among financial services companies with the nation’s largest lenders set to report third-quarter earnings beginning next week. “It’s summer vacation season and a lot of people are away on holidays”.

The loonie traded at 76.46 cents US, down 0.13 of a U.S. cent from Tuesday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down Tuesday morning amid concern about the strength of China’s economy.

North American markets opened lower today as Chinese stocks had another roller coaster ride and investors await the minutes from last month’s Federal Reserve meeting for clues on when interest rates will be hiked.

“Copper has been particularly sensitive to China because of infrastructure build”, Cieszynski said.

Commodities producers are the worst-performing industries in the S&P/TSX this year as crude has slumped more than 30 percent from this year’s June peak into a bear market and metals from copper to gold have declined amid concern global growth is slowing.

The price of a barrel of oil has more than halved in year, falling from highs above $110 in July 2014.

Oil prices plumbed multi-year lows, following an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories.