American oil hits doomsday, Shopify soars

Forget last week’s record cutbacks by OPEC. Forget talk of easing the lockdown. American oil crashed Monday with a horrible thud as a barrel of WTI closed $-30.75. Yes, negative for the first time. And for the first time in ages, WCS actually closed higher than its American counterpart just above $3, to be precise, though Western Canadian Select shed 16% for the day. With hardly anyone driving during this lockdown, plus those OPEC cuts not kicking in until Monday, and after the Saudis and Russians have already flooded the market with excess oil, American oil producers face doomsday as they stave off bankruptcy and grown men weep in the streets.

Chevron fell 4.13% and Exxon plunged 4.72%. The pessimism infected all the Dow components, which altogether slid 2.44%. The S&P and especially the Nasdaq fared better but they too closed in the red.

Though Canadian stocks also sold off, the energy sector declined  relatively mild 1.53%. Among the winners were nat gas producer, Peyto, which soared 18.5%, and agricultural supplier, Ag Growth, which popped 15.11%. Materials and tech enjoyed a strong session, helping to keep the TSX afloat. The Toronto exchange closed flat, up 0.2%. Homemade tech titan, Shopify, rocketed 6.74% to become Canada’s second-largest stock, vaulting over $100 billion in market cap.

🛢 Chevron Texaco -4.13%
🛢 Exxon Mobil -4.72%
🛢 Peyto Exploration & Develop. +18.50%
🏗 Ag Growth International Inc +15.11%
🛍 Shopify Inc. +6.74%