Triple-digit losses lingered on North American stock markets in afternoon trading as both Wall Street and Bay Street grappled with weaker commodity prices and tightened financial stocks.
The S&P/TSX composite index lost 129.21 points, to 10,108.78.
Financial stocks pulled back, with Royal Bank down 61 cents at $44.04 and Scotiabank receding 49 cents to $37.17.
Elsewhere on the TSX, shares of Nortel Networks Corp. which is restructuring under court protection from creditors, was down five cents to 24.5 cents after reporting a first-quarter net loss of $507 million U.S. Revenue slumped 37% from a year earlier to $1.73 billion.
Toronto gold stocks lost ground, but Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. gained three cents to $1.66 after a deal to take stakes from Windarra Minerals Ltd. in a gold property and a uranium claim in northern Ontario.
Agrium Inc. again increased its bid to buy U.S.-based CF Industries Holdings Inc., raising the cash portion by 14.3% to $40 per share, along with one Agrium share for each share in CF. Agrium shares weakened 24 cents to $51.76.
Chinese tree plantation operator Sino-Forest Corp. fell 7.3%, although it reported profits of $23 million U.S. for the quarter, up 53% from a year ago as it benefited from Chinese government stimulus efforts. Sino-Forest shares were down 94 cents to $11.89.
Power producer Boralex Inc. said its first-quarter profit dropped to $7.2 million from $9.2 million partly on higher development and maintenance costs. Boralex brightened a dime to $6.94.
AltaGas Utility Group Inc. shares gained 71 cents to $5.95 after it reported first-quarter net income of $5.7 million, up from $4.4 million a year ago, citing colder weather, lower debt costs and growth in its customer base.
Uranium One Inc. posted a $61.1-million-U.S. profit in the first quarter, turning around a loss of $114.9 million U.S. a year earlier. Its shares took a 7% hike, up 22 cents, to $3.91.
The Brick Group Income Fund increased its debt financing by $10 million to $120 million. Units in the furniture retailer edged up two cents to $1.20.
Canwest Global Communications Corp. shares rose eight cents to 34 cents after a report in that the media company is reviewing as many as four restructuring proposals from investors to dodge a bankruptcy-protection filing.
The Canadian dollar eased back 1.01 cents from its six-month highs, to 85.89 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 13 TSX subgroups, 10 lost ground, weighed down by metals and mining, which fell 3.3%, energy stocks, off 3.1 %, and industrials, declining 2.2%.
The three gaining groups were telecoms, ahead 0.4%, information technology and real-estate, both up marginally.
The TSX Venture Exchange backpedaled 6.64 points to 1,063.11 while the Nasdaq Canada Index tailed off 2.95 points to 703.51
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials average gave back 155.88 points Monday to 8,418.77.
The S&P 500 index stumbled 20 points to 920.26, while the Nasdaq Composite Index was 7.76 points in the red, to end the day at 1,731.24.
Stocks have been rallying since hitting multi-year lows in early March. The Dow and S&P 500 have risen for eight of the past nine weeks; the Nasdaq has risen for nine in a row. In that time the Dow gained 31% and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 37%.
Gains have been predicated on bets that the financial sector and economy are close to stabilizing. But with little economic news to focus on Monday, investors opted to back off.
Last week, the government revealed that 10 of the 19 banks that had been part of the stress tests would need to raise a collective $75 billion U.S. to be strong enough to withstand a potentially deeper recession.
Wells Fargo and Morgan Stanley two of the 10 banks needing capital, sold billions in stock just one day after the Thursday stress test announcements. Bank of America also registered Friday to sell 1.25 billion shares, which the company said will yield around $11 billion U.S.
On Monday, U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial, BB&T and KeyCorp all announced plans to issue stock, with the intention of paying back the money their received under the government's bank bailout plan. KeyCorp was one of the 10 banks told to raise more capital as a result of the stress tests. The other three were not.
In other banking news, troubled insurer American International Group is selling its Japanese headquarters to Nippon Life Insurance for $1.2 billion U.S., in its latest undertaking to pay back a massive government loan. AIG shares fell 3%.
General Motors shares slumped 10% after CEO Fritz Henderson repeated earlier comments that a bankruptcy filing is "probable." The government has given the company until the end of the month to reach deals with its creditors, labor union and dealerships to cut costs. If it fails to do so, GM will be placed into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, like Chrysler.
Ford Motor considered to be the healthiest of the big American automakers, has not taken government money and is not facing a bankruptcy filing.
In other news, President Obama said Monday that he has secured the commitment of a number of industry groups to cut health care costs by $2 trillion U.S. over the next decade.
And the administration's top antitrust official said Obama will take a more aggressive approach to cracking down on monopolies than did his predecessor.
Treasury prices rallied, lowering the yield on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.16% from 3.28% Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
U.S. light crude oil for June delivery fell 13 cents to settle at $58.50 U.S. a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
COMEX gold for June delivery fell $1.40 to settle at $913.50 U.S. an ounce.
