Stocks on Bay Street traded in the red Wednesday -- led by a drop in mining stocks -- as commodity prices dropped and investors continued to worry over the current economic environment.
The S&P/TSX composite index fell 501.43 points to 8,922.57.
In corporate news -- ING Canada Inc. reported a third-quarter profit drop to $57 million from year-earlier $92 million due to stock market volatility.
Research in Motion debuted its latest challenge to Apple Inc.'s iPhone -- the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smart phone.
Thomson Reuters Corp. reported quarterly net income of US$381 million, down 87 percent from a year-ago, while operating profit grew 33 percent excluding one-time items. It shares closed ahead 73 cents to $27.33.
On the data front -- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the federal government will purchase another $50 billion in residential mortgages to ease the credit crunch facing Canadian banks. It follows a similar move last month to purchase up to $25 billion in mortgages.
Also -- the Bank of Canada is likely to have to cut interest rates again to reach its 2 percent inflation target over the medium term, deputy senior governor Paul Jenkins said Wednesday.
The central bank cut its interest rate by 50 basis points on Oct. 8 and by a further 25 basis points on Oct. 21, bringing it down to 2.25 percent.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, dropped to 80.84 cents, down 1.93 cents from Monday's close.
BAYSTREET
Only one of the TSX sub-groups traded higher today -- health-care stocks were ahead 0.21 percent.
On the downside -- mining stocks were down 11.99 percent; gold issues shed 8.50 and energy stocks fell 8.50 percent.
COMEX gold for December delivery fell $14.50 to settle at $718.30 US an ounce.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange moved down 49.83 points to 822.50 and NASDAQ Canada stocks fell 30.09 points to 435.40.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks on Wednesday declined sharply to new November lows as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson shifted the focus of the government's bailout plan from troubled mortgage assets to consumer credit and Best Buy Co. Inc. cut its outlook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 411.30 points, or 4.7 percent, to 8331.24, and the S&P 500 gave back 46.65 points, or 5.2 percent, to 852.30. The Nasdaq slid 81.69 points, or 5.2 percent, to 1499.21.
Best Buy, the nation's largest electronics retailer, cut its full-year profit forecast, citing continued weakness in consumer spending ahead of the all-important holiday shopping period.
The company now expects earnings for the year to be between $2.30 and $2.90 a share on sales of between $43.7 billion and $45.5 billion. The company previously had forecast full-year earnings of between $3.25 to $3.40 a share.
The Wall Street Journal reported ahead of Wednesday's session that the Treasury may begin to require companies to raise private money before gaining access to the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The Journal also reported that American Express, which on Monday had become a bank-holding company and thus eligible for funds from the Fed, was attempting to get $3.5 billion in capital injections from the government.
As for technology companies, Microsoft is working on a deal with Verizon to provide the default search software for Verizon Wireless' phones, according to a report by the Journal. Microsoft shares lost 4.3 percent to $20.30, and Verizon gave back 2.6 percent to $28.96.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year was up 25/32 to yield 3.65 percent, and the 30-year was up 12/32, yielding 4.17 percent. The American dollar was higher vs. the euro and pound but losing ground against the yen.
Oil futures continued to slide, with concerns about a slowdown in demand pushing prices to a fresh 21-month low. Crude closed down $3.17, or 5.3 percent, to $56.16 on Nymex.
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