Daily Wrap-Up: TSX tumbles as oil goes to the bears

TSX tumbles as oil goes to the bears... Home Capital sells $1.2 billion of mortgage assets... Canadians’ ability to service debts concerning for PBO...

Daily Wrap-Up: TSX tumbles as oil goes to the bears
Steve Randall
TSX tumbles as oil goes to the bears
Oil has ended the session in a bear market Tuesday as prices slumped 2.2 per cent with US crude heading towards $43 a barrel.

Consumer staples and utilities were the only two sector groups of the main TSX to close with gains with the 1.9 per cent drop for energy leading losses for the other sectors including healthcare, materials and financials.

Wall Street was also lower along with European and most Asian indexes.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 116.4 (0.76 per cent)
The Dow Jones closed down 61.85 (0.29 per cent)
Oil is trending lower (Brent $45.97, WTI $43.34 at 4.20pm)
Gold is trending lower (1243.70 at 4.20pm)
The loonie is valued at U$0.7537

Home Capital sells $1.2 billion of mortgage assets
Home Capital’s Home Trust subsidiary is to sell around $1.2 billion of commercial mortgage assets to KingSett Capital.

BMO Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets acted as financial advisors to Home Capital in connection with the transaction.

“This transaction will help the Company further stabilize its liquidity position and highlights the flexibility and options created by the quality of our assets”, said Bonita Then, Interim President and CEO. “Proceeds from the transaction are expected to have an immediate impact by enabling us to enhance our liquidity and reduce the outstanding debt under the Company’s $2 billion credit facility.”

Canadians’ ability to service debts concerning for PBO
Rising levels of household debt in the last two years are less concerning than the ability of those households to service the debt.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a report Tuesday warning that the levels of household debt are likely to rise further due to increasing house prices, despite the likelihood of interest rate rises.

The PBO said that the situation ahead could mean that Canadians are paying 16.3 per cent of their income to service debts by 2021, higher than it has seen in 27 years of records. Currently the debt service ratio is 14.2 per cent, which is higher than average.

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