Futures Again Pegged to Go Down

Futures tracking Canada's main stock index fell on Monday, weighed down by bullion and oil prices, as investors feared that aggressive central bank policy

The TSX Composite tumbled 521.7 points, or 2.8%, to finish Friday and the week at 18,490.98. Over the last five sessions, the index lost its grip on 905 points, or 4.67%.

Futures slid 0.6% early Monday.

The Canadian dollar sank 0.48 cents to 73.14 cents U.S.

H.C. Wainwright started coverage of gold-mining company Victoria Gold with a "buy" rating and a 12-month price target of $23.

Meanwhile, a Federal government official said on Sunday it would take several months for this country to restore critical infrastructure after the powerful storm Fiona left an "unprecedented" trail of destruction.

ON BAYSTREET

The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 24.88 points, or 4.1%, to 578.06, for a loss on the week of 52 points, or 8.3%.

ON WALLSTREET

U.S. equity futures fell on Monday as surging interest rates and foreign currency turmoil threatened to push the S&P 500 to a new closing low for the year.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 173 points, or 0.6%, early Monday to 29,496.

Futures for the S&P 500 dipped 24.5 points, or 0.7%, to 3,684.50.

Futures for the NASDAQ Composite Index loosed 67 points, or 0.6%. at 11,309.75.

Shares in Planet Fitness jumped 4.2% in Monday pre-market trading after Raymond James upgraded the fitness center company to strong buy from market perform, saying Planet Fitness is in great shape after a drawdown.

Lyft stock declined 3.9% in the premarket after UBS downgraded Lyft to neutral from buy, saying it’s skeptical that Lyft can deliver growth.

The British pound dropped to a record low on Monday against the U.S. dollar. Sterling at one point fell 4% to an all-time low of $1.0382. The Federal Reserve’s aggressive hiking campaign, coupled with U.K.’s tax cuts announced last week has caused the U.S. dollar to surge.

The euro hit the lowest vs. the dollar since 2002. A surging greenback can hurt the profits of U.S. multi-nationals and also wreak havoc on global trade, with so much of it transacted in dollars.

On Friday, stocks ended a brutal week with the blue-chip Dow finding a new intraday low for the year and closing lower by 486 points. The broad-market S&P 500 temporarily broke below its June closing low and ended down 1.7%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite lost 1.8%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dwindled 2.7%, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 0.4%.

Oil prices flopped 74 cents to $78.00 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices dropped $7.80 to $1,647.80 U.S. an ounce.