Article content

Canadian stocks sank a seventh straight day, entering a bear market and putting an end to a bull run that lasted two years.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index sank 2.2 per cent to 12,448.21 at Thursday’s close in Toronto, falling 20 per cent below its September 2014 record to meet the definition of a bear market. Canada is the second G7 country to see its benchmark equity gauge enter bear territory, after Germany’s DAX Index in August.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canadian stocks enter bear market as energy selloff accelerates Back to video

“The cat’s out of the bag in terms of avoiding Canada,” said Ian Nakamoto, director of research at MacDougall MacDougall & MacTier Inc. in Toronto. “It’s hard to be positive. There doesn’t seem to be any stabilization coming. When markets continue to fall, you can’t help but lose some confidence.”

Canada’s resource-rich benchmark has been one of the worst-performing markets in the world in the past year, caught at the centre of a commodity price storm and growing fears that global economic growth is slowing just as the prospect of rising U.S. interest rates boost its dollar.