Worries about China and the possibility of a hard landing weighed on markets and commodities.
China announced today that its imports only grew 6.3% in June; analysts were expecting 12.7 percent.
Spot gold fell $21 to $1,566/oz and the S&P TSX Composite Index dropped 1.05%.
Oil prices were off. United states crude finished $2.08 lower at $83.91 a barrel. Brent crude was also hit, losing $2.04 to $97.97.
While commodities fell, the US dollar gained against most currencies and was up .27% against the loonie.
China’s bad news outweighed glimmers of good news from across the Atlantic. The European Union reached a tentative agreement to negotiate a bank bailout for Spain, whereby the sector gets $123 billion credit in exchange for handing over much of the control of the banks and losses being imposed on investors.
Some noteable decliners during the day were Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) down 2.73% to $35.63; Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE:POT) was off 1.83% to $44.08 a share; and Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) dropped 5.23% to $15.78.
