The markets today

North American markets fell to start the trading week Tuesday following the imposition of new tariffs by the U.S. and China and weak manufacturing data. The U.S. imposed tariffs on more than US$110 billion worth of Chinese imports on Sunday, while China put duties on U.S. crude oil.

The intensified trade war between the world’s two largest economies is looking more and more like a prolonged situation with U.S. President Donald Trump even suggesting talks could drag into his second term.

In addition, U.S. factory activity shrank in August for the first time since August 2016 while Canadian manufacturing activity slowed in August as new work received by firms slumped to the lowest level in nearly four years, pressured by trade tensions.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 42.84 points at 16,399.23 as the heavyweight energy, consumer, financial and industrial sectors weighed on the market. The rising price of gold helped Canada’s main stock index to outperform U.S. markets.

The December gold contract was up US$26.50 at US$1,555.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was down 2.35 cents at US$2.53 a pound.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 285.26 points, or 1.1 per cent, at 26,118.02. The S&P 500 index was down 20.19 points at 2,906.27 while the Nasdaq composite was down 88.72 points at 7,874.16.

On the TSX, consumer discretionary fell 1.5 per cent with Martinrea International Inc. down 2.8 per cent and Linamar Corp. off 2.7 per cent.