TORONTO — Canada's main stock index moved lower Monday, led by losses in technology and utilities stocks, while U.S. stock markets were also down. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 66.38 points at 25,625.42. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 240.59 points at 44,401.93. The S&P 500 index was down 37.42 points at 6,052.85, while the Nasdaq composite was down 123.08 points at 19,736.69. “It started pretty positive in the morning. It's just been slowly, slowly grinding down ever since,” said Michael Currie, senior investment adviser at TD Wealth. Some of the market direction Monday was driven by two separate news stories out of China, he said. “The (Chinese) central bank says they're starting to buy gold again, and they're looking to loosen their monetary policy a bit. So that helped oil a lot, helped gold a lot,” said Currie. China also said it’s investigating semiconductor giant Nvidia over suspected violations of anti-monopoly laws, which sent the company’s stock lower. Nvidia’s share price was down 2.6 per cent Monday at US$138.81. Otherwise, “it’s all about interest rates today,” said Currie. In the U.S., investors are awaiting the latest update on inflation later in the week. However, given that the slowing job market is more of a concern for the U.S. Federal Reserve at this point, the data is unlikely to change what investors currently expect from the Fed next week, said Currie: a quarter-percentage-point cut. “Unless there's something really crazy out of the inflation numbers, there’s no reason to expect anything different is going to happen next week,” he said. In Canada, where the central bank is gearing up for a rate decision Wednesday, a larger half-point cut is more likely, he said. Expectations for a bigger cut rose after last week’s jobs report, which saw the unemployment rate jump to 6.8 per cent in November. “The more we're cutting rates, especially the accelerated rate compared to the States, the more that just keeps beating up our dollar,” said Currie. He expects more buzz in the coming months about the divergence between interest rates in Canada and the U.S. as the loonie continues to weaken. “We're seeing it already, and as the gap gets bigger, it'll become more of a story.” However, Currie noted the TSX briefly touched an all-time high earlier in the day. “Basically since the US election, it's just been a non-stop rally,” he said. The Canadian dollar traded for 70.77 cents US compared with 70.74 cents US on Friday. The January crude oil contract was up US$1.17 at US$68.37 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up 11 cents at US$3.18 per mmBTU. The February gold contract was up US$26.20 at US$2,685.80 an ounce and the March copper contract was up eight cents at US$4.28 a pound. — With files from The Associated Press This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2024. Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) Rosa Saba, The Canadian Press
DETROIT — Another home of a University of Michigan leader was vandalized, including the spray-painting of a vehicle with a pro-Palestinian slogan, a regent said Monday. UM Regent Jordan Acker said his Huntington Woods home and vehicle were both vandalized early Monday. Someone threw a mason jar through one of his home's windows and spray-painted the words "Divest and Free Palestine" on an SUV, said Acker, who is Jewish. "My first thought when I heard the glass breaking is that one of my daughters had gone downstairs to get something to drink and dropped it," he said. "It was very loud and it sounded like dishes breaking. "It was only about 30 seconds later when the police arrived that I came down and realized what had happened." Acker said he later found out a neighbor called the police after seeing a couple of people running away from the house. Authorities found fragments of a glass jar inside the house along with a foul-smelling liquid as well as a second jar outside of the home, he said. Acker called the upside-down red triangle the vandals also painted on the vehicle along with the graffiti particularly disturbing and upsetting. He considers the incident a threat against his family. "That symbol has been used by Hamas to mean something is a legitimate military target," the regent said. "This is a threat. This was not a protest. This is terrorism." The incident comes about six months after vandals targeted Acker's Southfield law office. They spray-painted the words "Free Palestine" and "Divest Now" on the building. The law firm said the attack was being investigated as a hate crime. Acker said the incident at his office remains under investigation and no arrests have been made. Officials for the University of Michigan issued a statement Monday on X calling the vandalism of Acker's house "a clear act of anti-Semitic intimidation." "The University of Michigan condemns these criminal acts in the strongest possible terms," the school said. "They are abhorrent, and unfortunately, just the latest in a number of incidents where individuals have been harassed because of their work on behalf of the university. This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We call on our community to come together in solidarity and to firmly reject all forms of bigotry and violence." The university has been embroiled in debate and protests about Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and Israel's counterattack, prompting a war that continues to this day. University events have been disrupted by demonstrators, an encampment was built on campus for a month before being dismantled by police, and regents and other university leaders have been targeted with protests and vandalism. The incident comes about two months after graffiti was spray-painted on the homes of UM President Santa Ono and Erik Lundberg, UM's chief investment officer. The vandalism was done on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas, which runs Gaza. It also followed months of demonstrations and disruptions by UM students and their supporters, who demand the university divest from its portfolio any holdings linked to Israel since the country's counter-attack on Hamas in Gaza — which has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry. The messages at Ono's home were spray-painted in red on his house and sidewalk. They included "Coward," "Divest now," along with upside-down triangles and "intifada," an Arabic word meaning uprising or resistance. Similar words were spray painted at Lundberg's home, including "complicit" and "intifada." Officials decry vandalism Mark Bernstein, vice chair of the university's Board of Regents, decried the vandalism in a statement to The Detroit News. Bernstein, who is president and managing partner of the Sam Bernstein Law Firm PLLC, was first elected to the Board of Regents in 2012 and re-elected in 2020. “The repeated targeting of my colleague, a Jewish elected official, and his family, is conduct that demands condemnation and aggressive criminal prosecution," he said. "This act reveals the dangerous antisemitism at the core of this radical movement that has adopted terrorist symbols in their repugnant rhetoric." Others also condemned the attack on Monday. U.S. Rep. and U.S. Senator-elect Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, categorized the act as criminal. "This makes three attacks on University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker’s home and office in just over six months," she said in a statement. "This is targeted hate meant to intimidate and threaten him and his family, and law enforcement has a responsibility to move quickly to connect the dots and do something about it. This is not activism or free speech on behalf of a cause — indeed this criminal activity undercuts the very cause they purport to care about." U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, called the incident sickening. "Jordan Acker is a dedicated public servant and he and his family should be safe in their own home," she said in a post on X. "I am sickened by the anti-Semitic attack on his home last night. Vandalism, violence, and bigotry have no place in America. Enough. Our Jewish brothers and sisters deserve to live in security and peace." Also on X, former U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Grand Rapids Township, decried what he called "another disgusting antisemitic attack" on Acker. "Political leaders in Michigan must take this vile behavior seriously — vandalism and harassment is reprehensible enough, but left unchecked threatens to escalate into physical violence," he wrote. Acker details what happened Acker, an attorney who has been on the board since 2019, also posted about the incident on his Instagram page on Monday. "In the very early hours of this morning, while my wife, my three young daughters and I were asleep in our beds, we were awakened by the sound of two heavy thrown through the front window of our house," he said in his post. "While my eldest daughter ran into our room, frightened by the sound of breaking glass, I ran downstairs, saw the broken window, and then ran outside to find my wife’s car had been graffitied by anti-Semitic vandals." He added in the post: "This is the third time that I — and now my family — have been the target of these Klan-like tactics. We all need to call out this cowardly act attacking my family and my home for what it truly is — terrorism. And like we always do in this great nation when we’re confronted with terrorism — I will not let fear win. All this does is harden my resolve to continue to do the right thing for the University and the Michigan voters who elected me." He concluded the post with: "I call upon members of the Michigan community to publicly repudiate this vile anti-Semitic intimidation and to offer full support to law enforcement to root out these bigots so they see the consequences for their actions." Acker said he won't disclose what safety measures he will take to protect his family and himself following Monday's incident. "These messages, whether they're left at my office or my home, are intended to intimidate a Jewish elected official," he said. "But I am not going to be intimidated by them." Acker said he calls on every elected official in Michigan, whether they're on the political right or the left, to publicly condemn this sort of behavior. "It's not enough to condemn privately," he said. "We have to say publicly this is not acceptable no matter where you stand on the issue of Israel and Palestine. He said he would like to see the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit and the FBI become involved in the investigation into the attack. "It's pretty obvious this is a civil rights violation and I wish the U.S. Attorney's Office would take it seriously," Acker said. The regent also urges people on UM's campus who know who the vandals are and where they are to come forward to stop incidents like this from happening again. In mid-May, pro-Palestinian protesters delivered a list of demands to the homes of the eight regents. They also "decorated" the front lawn of then UM Board of Regents Chair Sarah Hubbard's home with "scenes of genocide in Palestine" along with a taped list of demands for divestment from Israel on the door of her home. At the time, Acker wrote on X that "around 4:40 a.m., a masked intruder came to the door of my family's home with a list of demands, including defunding the police." "My three daughters were asleep in their beds, and thankfully unaware of what transpired," Acker wrote. "This form of protest is not peaceful. Public officials should not be subject to this sort of intimidating conduct, and this behavior is unacceptable from any Michigan community member, especially one led by someone who called for the death of people they disagree with." -------- ©2024 www.detroitnews.com . Visit at detroitnews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
MAPS Investors Have Opportunity to Lead WM Technology, Inc. Securities Fraud LawsuitVancouver Canucks (12-7-3, in the Pacific Division) vs. Detroit Red Wings (10-11-2, in the Atlantic Division) Detroit; Sunday, 12:30 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: The Vancouver Canucks visit the Detroit Red Wings after the Canucks took down the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime. Detroit has gone 5-6-1 at home and 10-11-2 overall. The Red Wings have gone 3-3-2 in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents. Vancouver has a 12-7-3 record overall and a 9-2-0 record on the road. The Canucks have a +two scoring differential, with 71 total goals scored and 69 given up. Sunday's game is the first time these teams square off this season. TOP PERFORMERS: Dylan Larkin has 12 goals and six assists for the Red Wings. Lucas Raymond has six goals and four assists over the past 10 games. Quinn Hughes has five goals and 20 assists for the Canucks. Elias Pettersson has scored five goals with eight assists over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 4-5-1, averaging 2.5 goals, 4.3 assists, 2.9 penalties and 6.3 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game. Canucks: 5-5-0, averaging 3.2 goals, 5.7 assists, 3.7 penalties and 9.1 penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game. INJURIES: Red Wings: None listed. Canucks: None listed. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .