(September 2 – 17:30 ET) – Interest rate concerns continued to pick away at North American markets today. The anxiety followed some sharp words from a US Federal Reserve governor.

Investors were told that it was premature to assume there would be no more US interest rate hikes. The Fed will continue to watch economic numbers. It will concentrate especially on wage levels and productivity indicators. Consequently, every major index pointed downwards.

The TSE tumbled 69.10 to 6909.10 on relatively thin volume before the labour day weekend. Of the 14 sub-indices, 12 were down in late-day trading. BCE Inc. had dropped $C1.95, to $67.60. Nortel Networks Corp. shed $1.75, to $59.85. Metals and minerals gained about 1%. Precious metals were up a little on the price of gold, which has been inching upward. Inco Ltd. was up C$0.90, to $31.95 at one point.

The ME was drifting lower in late trading. It was down 45.47, to 3716.29. The ASE was 5.23 points lighter, to 2659.59. The VSE also dropped 2.55 to 407.51 in late Pacific trading.

The Dow collapsed by 94.67, to 10,843.21. That’s about 500 points lower than it was one week ago. Nasdaq shrunk as well, by 16.29, to 2734.51. The S&P 500 lost 11.93, to close at 1319.40.