Roger Biduk - Energy & Financials Sink Bay Street

Roger Biduk writes:

A broad selloff on the Toronto stock market led by the energy and financial sectors on Monday sent the index to its worst one-day percentage loss since the crash of October 1987.
The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 864.41 points or 9.3 per cent to 8,406.21 after gaining just over 1,100 points last week. The 1987 fall erased 11.3 per cent from the Toronto market.
The TSX Venture Exchange declined 27.23 points to 739.12.

The prospect that the Conservative minority government could be ousted likely had some impact on the selloff.
But analysts noted investors have plenty of other worries, including definitive word the U.S. economy is contracting and a shaky start to the holiday shopping season.

The CDN$ closed down 0.53 cent to 80.31 cents U.S. as oil prices also retreated.
Statistics Canada, meanwhile, said the Canadian economy expanded 0.1 per cent in September, which most economists believe was Canada's last month of growth before what could be a prolonged decline. The third quarter of the year showed 0.3 per cent growth in gross domestic product.

The energy sector was a major TSX loser, down 13 per cent as the January crude oil contract fell $5.15 to US$49.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after OPEC did not cut production at a weekend meeting in Cairo. OPEC meets again Dec. 17.
EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) fell $7.68 or 12.8 per cent to $52.32 while Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) surrendered $5.58 or 16.5 per cent to $28.15.

Financial stocks were down 8.75 per cent ahead of earnings reports from four of the six big banks later this week. Royal Bank fell $3.74 to $39.44 while TD lost $3.75 to $42.25.

The gold index pulled back 13.9 per cent as bullion fell $42.20 to US$776.80 an ounce on the Nymex. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) was down $5.07 to $32.65 while Goldcorp (TSX:G) faded $5.85 to $29.15.

Base metals sagged 12 per cent with Teck Cominco (TSX:TCK.B) off $1.04 to $4.96 while HudBay Minerals (TSX:HBM) declined 51 cents to $3.42.

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