TSX Falls For 4th Straight Day, Ends 2.8% Down

(RTTNews) - The Canadian market suffered its worst setback in more than than three months on Friday as rising fears of a recession due to aggressive monetary tightening by global central banks to fight inflation rendered the mood extremely bearish.

Stock markets across the globe fell sharply on Friday, and commodity prices tumbled as well, as worried investors hurried to exit counters.

The latest batch of economic data from the euro area hurt, and on the Canadian economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed a notable drop in retail sales in the month of July.

The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index ended with a loss of 521.70 points or about 2.8% at 18,480.98, a two-month closing low. The index, which suffered its biggest single-session drop since June 16 today, shed 4.7% in the week.

Energy stocks plunged sharply, pushing the Energy Capped Index down by as much as 7.81%, as oil prices tumbled on demand worries.

Materials stocks were the other major losers, as bullion prices fell after the dollar soared to a fresh two-decade high. The Materials capped Index drifted down 4.53%.

Real estate, financials, consumer discretionary and industrials shares were among the other prominent losers. Technology stocks managed to find support at lower levels.

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.