TSX flat, but New York markets sell off

Call it the winter blues, but North American markets suffered a malaise in Thursday trading. After making new highs the day before, all three major Wall Street indices closed around half a point lower, with big tech driving the Nasdaq down 0.67%.

For example, cloud computing juggernaut, Microsoft, closed -1.53%. The scariest thing is that nobody had a reason for the sell-off which came before noon E.S.T. Are investors spooked by the coronavirus, despite earlier optimism? Are investors merely taking profits after a strong run-up earlier this week? Both?

On the upside, gold ticked up again as did light crude by nearly 1%. The TSX finished a hair in the positive, despite the ongoing indigenous blockade across Canada which has triggered layoffs at CN Rail and VIA Rail, shut down rail transport, and caused a backlog of cargo ships on our coasts. However, the biggest winner of the day came after hours. Dropbox reported much better-than-expected Q4 earnings and a generous share buyback plan. DBX-Q rallied 2.16% Thursday, plus around 7% right after the closing bell. Mind you, Dropbox is still well off its historic highs by around half.

🌐 Microsoft -1.53%
💨 Dropbox +2.16 (+7% after hours)