Canadian, U.S. stock markets tumble
North American stock markets tumbled in a broad decline amid concerns over commodity prices, the subprime housing market and corporate earnings.
Shortly before noon ET, the S&P/TSX composite index was off 238 points at 14229 points. Every sector sub-index on the TSX was down, led by declines of more than 2.5 per cent for the energy and mining groups.
Pulling energy stocks lower was a retreat in the price of oil. Light, sweet crude for September delivery was down $1.72, to $73.17 US a barrel.
Some market watchers were not overly surprised to see a sell-off given the recent performance of equities. The TSX was up 13 per cent year-to-date at the start of this week.
“Taking some profit like this is to be expected call it a mini-correction, call it what you want, these are expectations that should be built into the plan of action,” said Adrian Mastracci, portfolio manager at KCM Wealth Management in Vancouver.
“And anybody that cannot take this sort of thing should not be in the markets.”
On U.S. markets, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off more than 78points, while Nasdaq was down more than 16 points.
Jitters over the subprime mortgage sector were compounded after Countrywide Financial Corp. the largest U.S. mortgage lender said its profits fell sharply as mortgage banking earnings tumbled. The company also cut its profit outlook amid rising mortgage delinquencies. With files from the Canadian Press