A closing-bell breakdown of Wednesday's selloff, the metals weakness behind it, and how the loonie, oil and gold moved alongside it.
The S&P/TSX composite closed down 584.18 points at 35,751.43 on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2026, as weakness in the basic materials sector dragged Canada’s benchmark index to one of its sharpest single-day point declines of the month. The drop, reported from Toronto after the closing bell, came alongside losses on all three major U.S. indexes.
The move was broad rather than isolated. Equities fell on both sides of the border, the Canadian dollar weakened against its U.S. counterpart, and gold gave back a substantial chunk of value — while crude oil moved the other way, finishing higher on the day.
Where the S&P/TSX Composite Finished on Sept. 23
The headline figure was a 584.18-point decline to 35,751.43. Measured against the prior session’s implied level of roughly 36,335.61, that works out to a fall of about 1.6 per cent — a calculation based on the reported closing numbers rather than a figure published in the source data.
Basic materials was singled out as the drag on the index. That sector is unusually influential on the Toronto exchange, because the S&P/TSX composite carries a heavier weighting in mining, metals and related producers than most large international benchmarks. When gold and base-metal names sell off together, the index feels it more than the S&P 500 would.
Gold’s US$58 Drop and Why It Hit Toronto Hardest
The December gold contract settled down US$58.00 at US$4,318.40 an ounce, a decline of roughly 1.3 per cent from the prior level implied by that change. For a Canadian index with significant exposure to gold producers, a move of that size in the underlying metal tends to flow straight through to equity prices in the materials group.
That relationship is the simplest explanation for why Toronto underperformed New York on the day. The Dow’s percentage decline was well under one per cent; the TSX’s was roughly double it. No additional sector-level detail was provided in the source reporting, so the extent of losses in energy, financials or technology names on the index is not specified.
Wall Street’s Three Main Indexes All Closed Lower
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 352.10 points to 51,511.59. The S&P 500 index shed 58.61 points to close at 7,706.03, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 308.24 points to 26,936.04.
By percentage, the Nasdaq was the weakest of the three, down about 1.1 per cent, with the S&P 500 off roughly 0.8 per cent and the Dow about 0.7 per cent. The steeper slide in the tech-heavy Nasdaq is consistent with a session in which rate-sensitive and growth-oriented names bore more of the selling pressure.
Closing Snapshot: Indexes, Currency and Commodities
| Market | Change | Close / Level |
|---|---|---|
| S&P/TSX composite | −584.18 points | 35,751.43 |
| Dow Jones industrial average | −352.10 points | 51,511.59 |
| S&P 500 | −58.61 points | 7,706.03 |
| Nasdaq composite | −308.24 points | 26,936.04 |
| Canadian dollar | −0.16 cents US | 70.94 cents US |
| November crude oil | +US$1.64 | US$92.16 per barrel |
| December gold | −US$58.00 | US$4,318.40 per ounce |
The Loonie Slipped to 70.94 Cents US
The Canadian dollar traded at 70.94 cents US on Wednesday, down from 71.10 cents US the day before. In practical terms, that puts the greenback at roughly $1.41 in Canadian funds, based on the quoted rate.
A softer loonie cuts both ways for the domestic economy. It raises the landed cost of imported goods, machinery and U.S.-dollar travel for Canadian households and businesses, while improving the translated revenue of exporters and of Canadian companies earning in U.S. dollars. No commentary on the drivers behind the currency move was included in the source reporting.
Crude Oil Was the Day’s Outlier at US$92.16
Not every board was red. The November crude oil contract rose US$1.64 to settle at US$92.16 a barrel, a gain of about 1.8 per cent on the session — the strongest percentage move of any instrument in the day’s snapshot.
Rising crude prices matter disproportionately to the Canadian market given the energy sector’s weight on the index and its role in Western Canadian provincial revenues. On this particular day, however, the strength in oil was not enough to offset the metals-led drag on the composite.
How Wednesday Compares With the TSX’s Mid-September Run
The decline erased ground the index had gained earlier in the month. Less than a week earlier, the S&P/TSX composite had jumped 1.08 per cent to close at 35,874.26 on relief in bond yields. Wednesday’s close of 35,751.43 sits about 123 points below that level.
That short round trip is a useful reminder of how quickly sentiment has been turning. Sessions driven by a single macro input — yields one week, metals prices the next — have produced triple-digit point swings in both directions without a decisive break in either trend.
The Macro Backdrop Canadian Investors Are Watching
Wednesday’s selloff landed in a week already dense with Canadian market catalysts. The Bank of Canada’s summary of deliberations gives investors a window into how policymakers weighed inflation and growth risks at their most recent decision, and rate expectations continue to influence both equity valuations and the currency.
Corporate results are also arriving. BlackBerry’s second-quarter results were scheduled for Sept. 24, one of several Canadian earnings reports landing into an unsettled tape. Company-specific news tends to have outsized effect on days when index-level direction is already negative.
The broader theme running through recent sessions has been pressure originating in the bond market and renewed attention to inflation — conditions that generally weigh on equity multiples. The source reporting did not attribute Wednesday’s decline to any specific policy announcement, economic release or geopolitical event beyond the weakness in basic materials.
What These Numbers Do and Don’t Tell You
- They are closing values, not intraday extremes: the figures reflect where each market settled, and levels during the session may have been higher or lower.
- Point moves overstate drama on high index levels: a 584-point drop on a 36,000-level index is about 1.6 per cent — significant, but far from the proportional shock the raw number suggests.
- One sector can move the whole Canadian index: the concentration of materials and energy names on the TSX means Toronto can diverge from New York on commodity-driven days.
- Commodity contracts are dated: the quoted crude and gold prices refer to the November and December contracts respectively, not spot prices.
Market figures here are reported as published for the Sept. 23 session and are provided for information only; they are not investment advice, and readers making decisions should consult current data and a licensed advisor.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did the S&P/TSX composite fall in percentage terms?
Roughly 1.6 per cent, calculated from the 584.18-point decline to a close of 35,751.43. A percentage figure was not stated in the original report.
Why did the Toronto market fall more than the Dow?
The decline was attributed to weakness in basic materials, a sector that carries a heavier weighting on the S&P/TSX composite than on the major U.S. indexes.
Did every market fall on Sept. 23?
No. The November crude oil contract rose US$1.64 to US$92.16 a barrel, while equities, the Canadian dollar and gold all finished lower.
What was the Canadian dollar worth against the U.S. dollar?
It traded at 70.94 cents US, down from 71.10 cents US in the previous session.
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