Roller-coaster for stocks
Thursday, November 08, 2007
A grim assessment on the U.S. economy by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a disappointing outlook from tech icon Cisco Systems combined to send stock markets on a roller coaster ride for a second day before the session ended mixed.
Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index started positive, then swooped to a 236-point slide before closing 10.41 points higher to 14,128.59, on top of Wednesday’s 252-point slide.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average underwent similar swings, racking up a 220-point deficit before closing down 33.73 points to 13,266.29 on top of Wednesday’s 361-point loss.
Mr. Bernanke told the joint economic committee of Congress that a host of economic problems, including the severe housing slump, will cause business growth to slow noticeably in coming months.
The Canadian dollar also endured another volatile session a day after the latest spasm of weakness in the greenback pushed the loonie over $1.10 cents (U.S.) before closing at $1.0775. The currency closed down another 0.91 of a cent to $1.0684 on Thursday after rising earlier in the session.
The TSX Venture Exchange was down 40.09 points to 3,068.86.
The tech-intensive Nasdaq composite was down 52.76 points or almost two per cent to 2,696.
The tech sector was a major source of weakness in New York after a disappointing outlook from Cisco Systems, which said its fourth quarter sales will narrowly miss analyst estimates.
The S&P 500 moved 0.85 point lower to 1,474.77. Canadian Press
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