TSX closes down 351 points as gold and tech stocks slide

Canada’s main stock index closed down 351.54 points on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2026, as gold and base metal miners slumped and a worldwide selloff in artificial intelligence stocks hit technology shares. The S&P/TSX composite index ended at 35,973.45, a drop of 0.97 per cent, according to TMX Money and The Canadian Press.

The index had closed at 36,324.99 on Wednesday. It opened at 36,161.69, which was also its high for the day, and fell as low as 35,806.38, according to TMX Money. CNBC market data showed the same close. That left the index slightly above where it stood in early afternoon, when our midday report had it down 408.85 points.

Sources: TMX Money and The Canadian Press for the TSX indexes; The Canadian Press and CNBC market data for the U.S. indexes, oil, gold and the loonie.

Materials stocks did the most damage. The S&P/TSX capped materials index fell 5.62 per cent and the S&P/TSX global gold index fell 5.46 per cent, according to TMX Money, as the December gold contract lost US$89.60 an ounce. Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (TSX:AEM) closed down 6.24 per cent at $246.72, Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (TSX:WPM) fell 6.78 per cent and Barrick Mining Corp. (TSX:ABX) lost 5.49 per cent. Among smaller gold producers, Torex Gold Resources Inc. (TSX:TXG) fell 8.32 per cent and IAMGOLD Corp. (TSX:IMG) 7.96 per cent.

Base metal producers were also sharply lower. Hudbay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) fell 9.02 per cent to $30.67, Lundin Mining Corp. (TSX:LUN) lost 7.78 per cent and Teck Resources Ltd. (TSX:TECK.B) dropped 6.31 per cent to $82.58. Teck faces a possible strike at its Highland Valley Copper mine near Logan Lake, B.C., where the United Steelworkers served 72-hour strike notice on Wednesday, The Canadian Press reported.

Technology shares followed a global retreat in AI-related stocks. The Associated Press reported that the S&P 500 had its worst day since July and that Nvidia fell 4.4 per cent, with investors worried about the cost of borrowing to build data centres and about how high the stocks had climbed. Celestica Inc. (TSX:CLS), which makes data centre hardware, closed down 12.04 per cent at $376.69. Hut 8 Corp. (TSX:HUT) fell 10.87 per cent and BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB) 9.08 per cent, while Shopify Inc. (TSX:SHOP) lost 3.48 per cent. Celestica, Hut 8 and BlackBerry did not release news on Thursday; Celestica has said it will report third-quarter results after the close on Monday, Oct. 26. The capped information technology index fell 1.63 per cent.

Energy stocks lost 1.72 per cent even as oil rose. Brent crude jumped 4 per cent to US$113.17 a barrel after touching its highest level in five months on worries about the war with Iran, AP reported. Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE) fell 3.57 per cent and Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU) 2.24 per cent.

Most other sectors rose. Communication services led with a gain of 3.93 per cent, as TELUS Corp. (TSX:T) climbed 5.01 per cent, Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) 4.08 per cent and BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) 3.63 per cent. Rogers is scheduled to report third-quarter results before the market opens on Friday, according to TMX Money’s events calendar. Real estate gained 2.84 per cent, industrials 2.33 per cent, consumer staples 2.11 per cent, consumer discretionary 1.61 per cent, health care 1.48 per cent and utilities 1.22 per cent, while financials were nearly flat, up 0.09 per cent.

Among the biggest gainers was Mullen Group Ltd. (TSX:MTL), which rose 11.50 per cent to $32.28 after the trucking and logistics company reported a record third-quarter profit. Waste Connections Inc. (TSX:WCN) gained 9.52 per cent to $258.95 after it reported a 25 per cent rise in third-quarter profit, raised its 2026 outlook and lifted its dividend 10 per cent. FirstService Corp. (TSX:FSV) rose 7.41 per cent, Thomson Reuters Corp. (TSX:TRI) 6.51 per cent and Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU) 5.33 per cent. Stock closes are from TMX Money and were checked against CNBC market data.

TELUS was the most heavily traded stock on the TSX, with about 10.6 million shares changing hands, followed by Athabasca Oil Corp. (TSX:ATH) at 9.8 million and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSX:IVN) at 9.3 million, according to TMX Money. About 293.5 million shares traded on the composite index.

In New York, the Dow edged up 11.89 points while the Nasdaq fell 2.60 per cent. AP reported that the weakness in tech masked gains for most other U.S. stocks, and that the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 4.97 per cent from 5.13 per cent late Wednesday as investors bought government bonds. The loonie rose ahead of the Bank of Canada’s Oct. 28 rate decision, which economists expect to be a hold.

Markets are open their regular hours, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, on Friday. Our guide to TSX holidays in 2026 lists the remaining market closures this year.

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This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Speak to a licensed adviser before making investment decisions.