Worries over whether the world is heading into another economic slowdown made their presence felt on North American markets early Thursday, with indexes pointed decidedly downward.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index swooned 125.02 points, or 1.1% to start the day at 11,419.62
The Canadian dollar ditched 0.44 cents at 97.61 cents U.S.
In the news this morning, Cogeco Cable Inc, the main unit of media and telecom company Cogeco Inc, posted a modestly higher third-quarter profit from continuing operations as revenue rose 7.2%.
Other stocks to watch this morning included Corus Entertainment Inc., which reported a 7% rise in third-quarter profit, but said advertising revenue was hurt by soft demand for children's programming.
The European Commission will consult customers and competitors of Thomson Reuters on the company's revised plan to address competition concerns over the use of codes to identify financial data on its systems.
Norwegian oil and gas company DNO has decided not to proceed with its plans to buy Calvalley Petroleum
A U.S. hedge fund has escalated its battle with the telecommunications provider by asking a court to force Telus Corp. to reveal how much support shareholders had given its failed plan to unify its two classes of stock.
TMX Group Inc., the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange is in talks to buy U.S. stock market operator Direct Edge Holdings LLC, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Canadian crude discounts narrowed on Wednesday after Enbridge Inc. said it would reschedule a planned shutdown of its 491,000-barrel-per-day Line 5 pipeline for later this month.
Telecom network equipment maker DragonWave Inc. reported its seventh straight quarterly loss as margins fell.
Economically speaking, Statistics Canada said the May new housing price index rose 0.3%, following a 0.2% increase in April.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 13.47 points to 1,179.32. The Nasdaq Canada index fell 4.93 points to 338.72.
All 14 Toronto subgroups lost ground, with metals and mining losing 2.4%, while their cousins in global base metals and gold vied for second worst-off, each shedding 2.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened lower Thursday as fears about a global economic slowdown resurfaced.
The Dow Jones Industrials faded 96.08 points to open Thursday at 12,508.45
The S&P 500 doffed 14.46 points to 1,326.99. The Nasdaq Composite Index dumped 41.85 points to 2,846.13.
Groupon shares hit a fresh 52-week low as investors continue to fret about the health of the online deals site.
Shares of Merck jumped after the pharmaceutical giant's osteoporosis drug Odanacatib showed positive results in the lab. The results caused outside observers to suggest that the company stop the study early.
Investors shrugged off a decline in the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits filed in the holiday-shortened week ended July 7.
They are worried that European leaders won't be able to make good on their most recent pledge to get a permanent bailout fund in place. And Wednesday's minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting -- which showed the central bank was wary of announcing any new stimulus measures anytime soon -- is adding to the pessimism.
Concerns about the euro-zone bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism, weighed on European stocks.
Implementation of the fund won't be quick, and a German high court's decision about whether that country's involvement violates its laws may not happen for months.
Economically speaking, the U.S. Labor Department reported 350,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits during the week ended July 7 -- beating expectations and reaching a four-year low. The latest numbers showed a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's 376,000.
Import prices excluding fuels dropped by 0.3% in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices have continued to fall for most of the year so far.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Treasury Department will release its budget for June.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury inched up, pushing the yield down to 1.49% from Wednesday’s 1.50%.
Oil for August delivery drooped $1.12 to $84.69 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery fell $10.30 to $1,565.40 U.S. an ounce.
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