The Toronto stock market took a pounding to begin the week as cooling oil prices and signs of a slowing U.S. economy continued to dampen sentiment.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended the day down 199.25 points, or 1.5%, to 13,318.66
The Canadian dollar went south 0.22 cents to 102 cents U.S.
Energy stocks were down, with Suncor Energy off 85 cents, or 2.2%, at $38.75. It was the biggest drag on the TSX. Canadian Natural Resources was not far behind, giving back $1.06, or 2.6%, to $39.69.
Royal Bank of Canada followed closely with an 80-cent fall, or 1.5%, to $54.43 to help pull the economically sensitive financial group down. Toronto-Dominion Bank slid $1.48, or 1.8%, to $80.21.
In the gold mining subgroup Barrick Gold moved 24 cents lower to $44.63, and Goldcorp dipped 57 cents, or 1.2%, to $47.41.
Last Friday, dismal U.S. jobs data rekindled worries about an economic slowdown in the United States, and dragged oil prices lower on increased fears of weaker demand.
Sino-Forest Corp, which accused a short seller of defamation for alleging it fraudulently exaggerated its Chinese forestry assets, rebounded from its more than 60% dive last week, to jump more than 16%, or 87 cents, on Monday to $6.10.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported this morning that building permits in Canada took a nose dive of 21.1% in April, to $5.3 billion, after jumping 16.8% in March and nearly 10% in February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jettisoned 41.07 points to 2,014.55 while the Nasdaq Canada index settled 9.78 points to 620.43
In Toronto, all but one of the 14 subgroups ended the day in the red. Energy issues slipped 2.1%, gold was off 2%, and materials suffered 1.8%.
Only a 0.1% improvement by telecoms held out against the generally negative tide.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, financial shares pressured the broader market lower Monday afternoon, as investors largely remained hesitant to make any major bets in the absence of economic reports.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average settled down 61.30 points to 12,090, with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America the biggest drags on the blue-chip index. Of the Dow's 30 components, 22 posted losses.
The S&P 500 fell 13.99 points to 1,286.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index stumbled 30.22 points, to 2,702.56.
With no economic reports on tap, it was a fairly quiet Monday.
Harley-Davidson and Starbucks were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, after analysts issued favorable reports on both companies.
Harley-Davidson shares rose 3.6% after UBS Investment Research called the motorcycle maker a short-term buy, citing strong May sales.
Starbucks shares rose 3.8% after analysts at BMO Capital boosted their rating on the coffee retailer to "outperform," lifting their price target for the stock to between $40 and $45 U.S. --a more than 13% premium over Friday's closing price.
Investors are monitoring Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference in California on Monday, where Jobs unveiled iCloud, a free service that will store and sync documents, photos and other content across Apple devices.
Shares of Apple have fallen 0.8% since the meeting started.
Treasury yields traded in spitting distance of six-month lows Monday. The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.02% from 3.00% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for July delivery decreased $1.31 to $98.91 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for August delivery edged up $4.80 to $1,547 U.S. an ounce.
