Canada's main stock index took a beating early Wednesday after a long Christmas holiday weekend, with lower commodity prices weighing on the resource-heavy index.
The S&P/TSX Composite slid 209.85 points, or 1.8%, in the first hour of trading to 11,716.82
The Canadian dollar added 0.01 cents to 98.17 cents U.S.
Among the stocks to watch this morning, Bombardier has been awarded a 188-million-pound ($294.57-million U.S.) contract to supply 130 train carriages to U.K. rail operator Southern.
Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. said it received regulatory approval for its 150,000-barrel-per-day MacKay River project in Alberta and is on track to start production from 2014.
Crocodile Gold said an affiliate of Luxor Capital Group has offered to buy a majority stake in the company for about $121 million.
Crystallex International that tried for years to develop a massive gold deposit in Venezuela, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday and will be delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The TSX Venture Exchange gave back 14.95 to 1,454.73, while the Nasdaq Canada index dropped 7.53 points to 365.26
All but one of the 14 Toronto subgroups were in the red, with gold and materials each off 3.5%, and global base metals down 3%.
The lone gainer was information technology, up 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks edged lower in early trading Wednesday, with few economic or corporate indicators left for investors to digest before 2011 wraps up.
The Dow Jones Industrials stumbled 83.48 points to 12,207.90
The S&P 500 slumped 8.94 points to 1,256.49, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 24.55 points to 2,600.65.
Dragging down the technology sector Wednesday are RIMM, Netflix and Fossil. The Nasdaq is down roughly 1.8% for 2011.
JP Morgan, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, and Bank of America were all down between 0.6% and 2%.
The Dow is up nearly 6% for 2011, and the S&P 500 has nudged just over the breakeven line for the year. This week, traders are watching the S&P's 1,260 level. The index is trading just south of that line, a few points ahead of 1,257, where it closed 2010.
Trading volumes have been light throughout the week and are expected to remain so Wednesday.
U.S. stocks have been supported recently by signs of improvement in the economy, including declines in weekly claims for unemployment benefits and an uptick in new home construction.
But investors say the market remains vulnerable as the debt crisis in Europe continues to threaten the outlook for the global economy and financial markets.
Investors will be more closely watching Thursday's auction of Italian 10-year bonds, which have seen yields continue to flirt with the 7% danger zone. That level is worrisome because it flashed the first warning signs for Ireland, Portugal and Greece, which all eventually needed bailouts.
U.S. stocks ended a listless session little changed Tuesday as investors weighed reports on consumer confidence and home prices.
The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury increased, pushing the yield down to 1.97% from 2.01% Tuesday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil for January delivery subsided 74 cents to $100.60 U.S. a barrel.
Gold futures for February delivery fell $19.20 to $1,575.30 U.S. an ounce.
