Oil slides below $48, dragging TSX down another 120 points
The price of a barrel of oil continued its slide on Tuesday, losing almost $2 to trade below $48 US a barrel. The crude drop dragged energy stocks on the TSX lower too.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost another 140 points to trade at 14,252, a day after shedding almost 400 points due largely to weakness in energy prices. The loonie sold off again, losing about 0.4 of a cent to 84.65 cents US.
Oil has now lost well over 50 per cent of its value since last summer, when the price of a barrel of oil touched $107. Oil first dipped below $50 per barrel on Monday before recovering, and then capitulating below the line on Tuesday and showing no signs of stopping.
Late in the trading day, the crude contract hit an almost six-year low of $47.56 a barrel. “Fifty [dollars] is a fairly important level from the standpoint that you’re really digging past many, many producers’ marginal costs. So I think, psychologically, it’s a big number,” said Chris King, portfolio manager at Morgan, Meighen and Associates.
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