S&P/TSX composite down more than 600 points, U.S. stock markets drop sharply

TORONTO — North American markets faced a harsh reckoning Thursday following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s outsize rate hike a day earlier, with Canada’s main stock index dropping more than 600 points at closing time.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down more than three per cent or 607.50 points at 19,004.06.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 741.46 points at 29,927.07. The S&P 500 index was down 123.22 points at 3,666.77, while the Nasdaq composite was down 453.06 points or 4.1 per cent at 10,646.10.

The Canadian dollar traded for 77.35 cents US compared with 77.23 cents US on Wednesday.

The August crude contract was up US$2.15 cents at US$115.24 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up 44 cents at US$7.46 per mmBTU.

The August gold contract was up US$30.30 at US$1,849.90 an ounce and the July copper contract was down about five cents at US$4.11 a pound.