Bay Street stocks plunged on Monday, following the lead of the markets in Europe and the U.S.
Commodities are down across the board, contributing to the weakness.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index lost 250.18 points to end Monday’s trading at 10,394.78.
Mining stocks toppled as copper declined more than 3% on the Comex. Inmet dropped 7.2%, Teck Cominco lost 4.3% and First Quantum tailed off 3.4% while HudBay was down 3.5%.
Uranium One added 2.8% after it announced that it has agreed to acquire a 50% interest in the Karatau Uranium Mine in Kazakhstan from JSC Atomredmetzoloto, the Russian state-owned uranium mining company. The purchase price will be paid by way of the issuance of 117 million common shares of Uranium One and a cash payment of US$ 90 million or equivalent promissory note.
Energy stocks slid as crude oil prices were down. Suncor dropped 3.8% and Canadian Natural Resources declined 3.6%.
EnCana Corp. was down 2.7% after the company said it has extended its risk management program for 2010 by establishing fixed price hedges on about 35% of the company's expected natural gas production - about 1.39 billion cubic feet per day - at an average price of $6.21 U.S. per thousand cubic feet for the 2010 gas year, which runs from November 1, 2009 to October 31, 2010.
NuVista Energy gave back 2.4% after the company announced that it has agreed to acquire certain properties located in the Martin Creek area of northeast British Columbia and in northwest Alberta for about $176 million.
Materials stocks were down and gold stocks also fell as the precious metal fell to a three-week low. Iamgold plunged 4.6%, Seabridge was down 3.9%, Yamana declined 4.2% and Eldorado sank 3.3%.
Technology stocks were down, as Blackberry maker RIM is down 1.9% ahead of its quarterly earnings report, which is due Thursday.
In other corporate news, Sun Life Financial tailed off 1% after the company agreed to buy Lincoln National's U.K. insurance business for about $359 million in cash.
Air Canada was down 2.7% as the Globe and Mail reported the airliner is seeking a loan of $600 million from a group of lenders that includes Ottawa.
In economic news, Canadian manufacturing sales fell less than expected in April, edging down 0.1% from the previous month to $41.0 billion, according to Statistics Canada. Economists were a drop of more than 1% in April.
Meanwhile, new motor vehicle sales were basically unchanged at 121,290 units in April.
The Canadian dollar was down 1.15 cents to 88.32 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All 13 TSX subgroups ended the day in negative territory. Metals and mining stocks got scorched 4.7%, while energy stocks suffered 3.4% and materials were off 2.7%.
The TSX Venture Exchange lost 21.86 points to 1,132.95 while the Nasdaq Canada Index shed 25.96 points to 769.13.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks slumped Monday as weaker oil prices and more geopolitical unrest raised worries that the recession may not be waning as soon as some had hoped.
The Dow Jones Industrials average jettisoned 187.13 to end the day at 8,612.13. The S&P 500 index slid 22.49 points, to 923.72. The Nasdaq composite was down 42.42 points to 1,816.38.
Wall Street has been steadily rising for three months on bets that the pace of the recession is waning, with the S&P 500 up 40% during that period. But a lack of new evidence to support the rally has left stocks rangebound over the last few weeks.
In the short term, one expert said that comments coming out of the Group of Eight finance ministers' meeting last weekend were exacerbating worries about the health of the global economy. One said some countries expressed interest in pulling back on spending and that has some investors worried.
Experts also said the ongoing weakness in the labour market and the outlook for consumer spending were also in play. And investors are starting to conclude that second-quarter results due out next month are going to remain lackluster.
Oil stocks such as Dow components Chevron and Exxon Mobil retreated.
Other commodity stocks fell in active trade as well, including aluminum producers such as Alcoa and gold producers such as Yamana Gold.
But, declines were broad-based. A variety of tech shares slipped, dragging on the Nasdaq, including Intel, Cisco Systems, Dell and eBay.
Intel and Cisco are Dow stocks. The Dow's other big losers were Boeing, United Technologies, 3M, General Electric, Merck, Wal-Mart Stores and Johnson & Johnson.
All but one of the 30 Dow stocks suffered losses, with American Express the lone gainer.
Treasury prices rallied as investors sought safety in government debt. The 10-year note added 18/32 in price, lowering the yield to 3.72% from 3.79%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for July delivery fell $1.42 to settle at $70.62 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for August delivery fell $13.20 to settle at $927.50 U.S. an ounce.
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