FYI it sucks

In case you have been on another planet lately the month of September has been pretty dismal.

By Malcolm Morrison, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The Toronto stock market registered a steep triple-digit loss for a third day Thursday as investors continued to sell off commodity stocks, leading a broad market decline.

New York markets were also in the red following glum economic data and a mixed retail showing from August.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 277.71 points to 12,860.01 late in the morning, after losing 4.5 per cent over the previous two sessions.

Energy and mining stocks have declined sharply because of worries about slowing economic conditions while a stronger U.S. dollar has helped push commodity prices lower.

"Investors have realized that the decoupling story, where non-U.S. economies would remain strong in the face of a weaker U.S. economic environment, that in fact it hasn't come to pass, that in fact U.S. economic weakness has been exported to the rest of the world," said Paul Taylor, chief investment officer at BMO Harris Private Banking.

"And investors have woken up to that recently, causing oil and other commodity prices to ease off fairly dramatically, and obviously equity prices follow that."

The TSX Venture Exchange was 18.89 points lower to 1,856.01.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.21 cent to 94.04 cents US.

New York's Dow Jones industrial average lost 229.93 points to 11,302.95.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 42.34 points to 2,291.39 while the S&P 500 index lost 22.50 to 1,252.48 after the U.S. Labour Department reported that new applications for unemployment insurance rose last week to a seasonally adjusted 444,000, up 15,000 from the previous week. Economists had expected a slight drop, and the report reversed three weeks of declines.

The report came a day before the U.S. and Canadian unemployment statistics for August.

On the Toronto market, the energy sector was down 1.7 per cent as crude oil moved lower for a third day. The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $1.65 to US$107.70 a barrel after losing more than $6 over the last two days.

The decline in crude came even as the U.S. Energy Department said crude oil supplies dropped by 1.9 million barrels last week, against expectations of a climb of 500,000 barrels. Gasoline inventories fell one million barrels; economists had predicted a slide of 1.8 million barrels.

EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA.TO) fell $1.88 to $71.56 and Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX: SU.TO) lost 79 cents to $52.75.

Base metals stocks also continued to weaken, with the sector down 2.5 per cent.

Teck Cominco (TSX: TCK-B.TO) moved down $1.45 to $39.45 and HudBay Minerals (TSX: HBM.TO) gave back 18 cents to $9.07.

The industrial sector was down 2.6 per cent.

Shares in transportation equipment giant Bombardier Inc. (TSX: BBD-B.TO) fell 58 cents or seven per cent to $7.82 even as it reported that second quarter net income jumped to US$246 million, up from a $71-million loss a year ago. Revenue increased 22 per cent to US$4.93 billion.

In takeover news, Borealis Infrastructure Management, a unit of the $52-billion Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is offering $2 billion for Teranet Income Fund (TSX: TF-UN.TO). Borealis is bidding $11 per unit in cash for the Ontario land registry operator and Teranet units were ahead $1.79 to $11.15.

MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS.TO) again reduced its full-year revenue and profit outlook while reporting a quarterly net loss of $10 million. Net revenue declined three per cent from a year earlier to $298 million and its shares fell 68 cents to $15.05.

First Calgary Petroleums Ltd. (TSX: FCP.TO) has disclosed it received proposals to buy the company. The announcement followed a trading halt after its shares spurted up 40 per cent Wednesday. On Thursday, its shares moved down 31 cents to $3.01.

Wal-Mart Stores was a bright spot on Wall Street while many other large U.S. store operators rang up sluggish August sales.

The world's biggest retailer said groceries and back-to-school products helped its August same-store sales rise three per cent, beating expectations and sending its shares up 95 cents to US$60.74.

Asian markets were generally lower on deepening worries about the global economy.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index shed one per cent to 12,557.66, its weakest close since March 24.

Taiwan's main index fell 2.6 per cent, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng was off one per cent to 20,389.48, its lowest level in more than a year.

European markets were mixed after the European Central Bank and the Bank of England both held the line on interest rates.

The FTSE 100 index was down 95.2 points to 5,404.5 in London, while the German DAX pulled back 2.45 per cent and the French CAC 40 declined 2.75 per cent.