Big drop for TSX

Oct. 30, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks fell sharply lower in Friday afternoon trading, mirroring drops seen in the U.S. and Europe. Traders also mulled data showing the Canadian gross domestic product unexpectedly fell in August. Scant minutes before the closing bell, the S&P/TSX composite index had plummeted 194.89 points, or 1.8%, to 10,880.33. Mining stocks fell as copper saw a notable decline on the Comex. Inmet lost 5.5% to $57.73, HudBay was down 4% to $14.01 and First Quantum dropped 2.2% to $74.05. Among gold stocks, New Gold plunged 4.4% to $3.90, Agnico-Eagle Mines was down 5.4% to $57.88 and Iamgold dropped 1.8% to $14.21. Centerra Gold went down 0.9% to $8.42 after the company reported its third-quarter net earnings were $20.2 million U.S., 20% higher than $16.9 million U.S. in the previous year. Earnings per common share for the recent quarter grew 15% to $0.09 U.S. from $0.08 U.S. a year ago. Eldorado declined 2% to $11.96, although the company reported its third-quarter net income of $30.15 million U.S. or $0.08 U.S. per share, compared with $17.04 million U.S. or $0.05 U.S. per share last year. Energy stocks also lost ground, as Suncor dropped 3.5% to $35.67 and Canadian Oil Sands is down 1.2% to $29.10. Telecommunications stocks were up after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled Globalive Wireless does not meet Canadian ownership laws to become the nation's fourth major cellphone provider. Rogers Communications climbed 2.6% to $31.78, Telus added 3.4% to $33.97 and BCE advanced 1.1% to $25.89. In other corporate news, Tim Hortons lost 3.3% to $30.75 after the company announced third quarter net income attributable to Tim Hortons of $61.18 million or $0.34 per share, compared to $78.76 million or $0.43 per share last year. Domtar Corp. added 7.7% to $45.34 after the company reported net earnings of $183 million U.S. or $4.24 U.S. per share for the third quarter, compared to $43 million U.S. or $1.00 U.S. per share for the third quarter of 2008. GLG Life Tech Corp. gained 2.5% to $2.85 after the company said its third-quarter net income after income taxes and non-controlling interests was $1.39 million compared with a loss of $950,000 in the comparable period. The company reported earnings per share of $0.02 versus a loss per share of $0.01 for the quarter. Cogeco Cable dropped 4.1% to $30.94 after the company said its fourth-quarter net income increased to $46.57 million or $0.96 per share from $31.86 million or $0.65 per share in the prior-year period. Economically speaking, Statistics Canada reported real gross domestic product fell 0.1% in August. GDP was expected to rise 0.1%, after being flat in July. The Canadian dollar retreated 1.26 cents to 92.43 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were in negative territory to finish the day. Global base metals weighed the heaviest, off 3.8%, metals and mining slid 3.6%, and energy stocks suffered 2.8%. Telecoms proved the lone gainer, picking up 1.3%. The TSX Venture Exchange was down 19.01 points to 1,291.41, while the Nasdaq Canada index faded 26.26 points to 632.09. ON WALLSTREET In New York, Stocks tumbled Friday, more than erasing the previous session's gains, as investors dumped a variety of shares at the end of a rough week and choppy month on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrials fell without a parachute, losing 249.85 points, or 2.5%, to 9,862.22 --the blue chips' biggest one-day selloff on a point basis since April 20. The S&P 500 index gave back 29.92 points to 1,036.19. The Nasdaq composite index let go of 52.44 points to 2,045.11. The selloff was broad-based, with all 30 Dow components declining and most stock sectors sliding. Energy prices and stocks were hit hard as the dollar turned mixed and the financial sector erased most of the 4% gain it accrued Thursday. Since bottoming at a 12-year low on March 9, the S&P 500 has rallied 57.6% as of Thursday's close. But the gains had been more robust until about a week ago, when enthusiasm about the better-than-expected quarterly results gave way to worries about the pace of the recovery. Since peaking on Oct. 19, the S&P 500 had lost 5% as of Friday afternoon. For the month, the Dow ended virtually unchanged, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both posted slim declines. Friday brought a heavy batch of economic news, including readings on personal income and spending, consumer sentiment and manufacturing. Personal income was unchanged in September, in line with economists' forecasts, after rising 0.1% in the previous month. Personal spending fell by 0.5%, as expected, after rising 1.4% in the previous month. The core PCE, the report's inflation component, rose 0.1%, as it did in August. Economists thought it would rise 0.2%. The Chicago PMI, a regional read on manufacturing, rose to 54.2 in October from 46.1 in September, crossing above the 50 mark that signifies expansion. Economists thought it would rise to 49. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was revised up to 70.6 from 69.4 earlier this month. Economists expected a reading of 70. With over 60% of the S&P 500 having already reported results, profits are on track to have fallen 18% from a year ago, according to the latest results from Thomson Reuters. Dow component Chevron reported a 51% drop in quarterly profit due to lower oil and gas prices. Earnings slipped from a year ago, but nonetheless beat analysts' expectations. Revenue fell from a year ago and missed analysts' forecasts. Shares fell 1.6%. Other energy stocks fell too, including Exxon Mobil, Halliburton and Schlumberger. As indicated, all 30 Dow stocks retreated, led by Chevron and Exxon, 3M, IBM and financial shares American Express, JPMorgan Chase and Travelers Companies. Treasury prices were up sharply, lowering the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.39% from Thursday's 3.49%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil stumbled $2.87 to $77.05 U.S. Gold prices dropped $7 to $1,040 U.S. an ounce.