Canadian Financial Close: The week ends amid gloom on stock markets

By Commodity News Service Canada

WINNIPEG, Dec. 21 (CNS Canada) – The Canadian dollar was down at market close Friday with gloom ruling the major North American stock markets.
The dollar closed at US$0.7371 or US$1=C$1.3566, which compares with Thursday’s close of US$0.7410 or C$1.3495.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Friday at 13,935.44 down by 206.33 points, a loss of 1.46 per cent.
In the United States, the Dow Jones dropped 1.82 per cent, the S&P 500 fell 2.06 per cent and NASDAQ lost 2.99 per cent.

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At the center of all this is the political turmoil in Washington, D.C., between U.S. President Donald Trump and Congress over the new spending bill. Trump continues to demand US$5 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S./Mexican border as Congress, especially Democrats who control the House of Representatives, is remaining defiant. Without a spending bill there will be a partial shutdown of the U.S. government, putting 380,000 federal employees on furlough and 420,000 essential employees working without pay.
Oil was down Friday as West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell by 49 cents to close at US$45.39 per barrel.
Gold was weaker Friday by US$9.00 to US$1,254.90 per ounce.

Canada’s agricultural sector faired as follows:

AGT Food and Ingredients———dn $ 0.46 at $ 15.98
Buhler Industries—————-unchanged at $ 3.60
Linamar Corp.——————–up $ 0.43 at $ 45.97

Maple Leaf Foods—————–dn $ 0.17 at $ 26.52
Nutrien Ltd.———————up $ 0.23 at $ 60.97
Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc.—-dn $ 0.56 at $ 42.72
Rocky Mountain Dealerships Inc.–dn $ 0.03 at $ 8.43

(All figures are in Canadian dollars.)