Some of the bloom came off the rose for equity markets in North America Tuesday, after a financials-powered rally that saw some indexes rise as much as 500 points Monday.
Toronto and New York indexes were weak following a substantial run-up Monday in response to the U.S. government's plan to help banks dispose of bad loans.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index plunged nearly 140 points to end the day at 8,818.67, after the previous day's 498-point surge had left the main index a handful of points away from where it started the year.
The TSX is still up 16% from the recent trough of March 9 - but it still is underwater year-to-date and down dramatically from last June's peak of just over 15,000.
The TSX financial sector, which had surged 34% from the March 9 trough, was off on the day, as TD Bank declined $1.07 to $44.43 and National Bank fell $1.84 to $43.34.
The energy sector gave back strength amid weakening oil prices.
Oil has risen more than 30% this month as the U.S. dollar weakened and as traders wagered that the slide in the world's economy could be slowing. Oil had fallen in recent months as traders feared that economic weakness would crimp demand.
Suncor Inc. declined $1.90 to $28.84 a day after its blockbuster merger deal with Petro-Canada which gave back $1.63 to $34.07. EnCana Corp. lost $1.07 to $54.43.
The Toronto gold sector was down, as Goldcorp Inc. moved $1.25 lower to $40.57.
The base-metals sector pulled back, with First Quantum Minerals down $5.53 to $36.69 after a big share issue while Teck Cominco Ltd. gained 33 cents to $6.97.
HudBay Minerals Inc. ran up 54 cents to $6.34 after dissident investors won control of the mining company following a bitter proxy battle.
Shaw Communications Inc. gained 10 cents to $20.10 as it reported subscriber growth in all its services, including an 11% rise in digital TV clients.
The Canadian dollar was .55 cents lower to 81.20 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, eight ended the day on the downside, as energy stocks suffered a 2.7% setback, followed by the 2.1% losses sustained by the financials and metals and mining sectors.
The five groups that gained ground were led upward by information technology, ahead 1.2%, followed closely by telecoms, up 1% and real-estate, 0.3% stronger.
The TSX Venture Exchange eked out a gain of 0.26 points to 924.29, while the Nasdaq Canada Index moved lower by 5.23 to 456.78
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average took its lumps, losing 115.57 points to 7,660.29. The S&P 500 index surrendered 16.74 points to 806.18, while the Nasdaq stumbled 38.83 points to 1,516.94
Investors were taking in appearances by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner before a congressional hearing to testify over millions of dollars in bonuses at American International Group Inc.
Bernanke said he wanted to sue to stop AIG from paying bonuses, but was talked out of it. He also said that a collapse of the insurance giant could have caused a "global financial and economic meltdown."
Geithner asked lawmakers to give him power to seize control of banks, take over their bad loans and sell the good ones to competitors.
Financial shares slipped Tuesday afternoon, with Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo all declining. Among other stock movers, a variety of tech shares slipped, including Intel, Broadcom, Yahoo and Applied Materials.
Treasury prices dipped, raising the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 2.71%, up from 2.66% late Monday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for May delivery rose 18 cents to settle at $53.98 U.S. a barrel.
COMEX gold for May delivery fell $29.10 to settle at $924.70 U.S. an ounce.
