Trouble at Nortel Networks battered Toronto stocks on Tuesday. This morning company announced a weak first-quarter sales forecast. Yesterday it reported that its CFO has departed under suspicious circumstances.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index fell 60.75 points to close at 7,543.76.

Overall, 11 of the TSE 300’s 14 sub-indexes were lower, led down by a sharp 2.3%drop in industrial products.

Declining issues outpaced advancers 570 to 498, while another 191 remained unchanged, on volume of 159.6 million shares.

Nortel shares closed down 68¢, or 6.2%, at $10.25.

Also in the industrial products sub-index, Celestica fell $1.87 to $61.93, and ATI Technologies slipped 82¢ to C$18.18.

Golds stocks were one the few bright spots on Tuesday, rising 2%. Barrick Gold added the 60¢cents to close at $29.05. Placer Dome Inc. climbed 47¢ to $20.33.

Venture capital stocks fared better today. The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed up 2.82 at 1,152.87. Trading was heavy on a volume of 36.5 million shares with 199 advances, 248 declines and 532 issues unchanged.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a loss of 21.04 points at 9,863.74. The Nasdaq composite index lost 12.44 points to 1,834.22, while the S&P 500 was off 4.44 points at 1,107.50.

North American markets were hampered by a warning from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, which said it had evidence that an attack on the United States or against U.S. interests in Yemen could occur as early as Tuesday.