Friday, November 7, 2008

Stock markets lose ground

Stock prices continued to retreat Thursday as investors were confronted with a mix of weak earnings reports and troubling economic news.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 331.79 points, or more than 3.3 per cent, to close at 9,555.41.

Sliding energy prices once again put downward pressure on the Canadian stock index. Light sweet crude for December fell $4.53 US to settle at $60.77 a barrel. The energy sub-group fell 6.8 per cent.

On the earnings front, Manulife Financial Corp. weighed on the financial services group after the company reported that it third-quarter profit was cut in half by weak stock markets and the credit squeeze. Manulife shares closed down 45 cents at $25.35.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 443.08 points to end at 8,695.79, while the Nasdaq was off 72.94 points at 1,608.70. The broader S&P 500 index shed 47.89 points to conclude at 904.88.

Earlier, the U.S. Labour Department said American industrial output fell in the July-September period by 1.9 per cent. In response, employers cut the number of hours their workers were on the job by 2.7 per cent.

Additionally, the number of people making their first claim for unemployment insurance in the United States dropped by 4,000, to 481,000, but that remained in the range indicating an economic slowdown.

Many U.S. retailers also reported weak sales for October.

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