With U.S. financial markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the Toronto stock market seems likely to add to last week’s big selloff as overseas markets plunged on Monday.

Asian stock markets plunged on concerns the U.S. economy is sliding toward recession.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3.86% to close at 13,325.94. Insurance firms, with their large stock holdings, helped lead the way lower.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished 5.5% lower at 23,818.86.

In Europe, bench marks indicies also tumbled. The UKs FTSE 100 Index lost 3.97% to 5,667.20, while France’s CAC-40 Index fell 5.69% to 4,802.60. Germany’s DAX Index tumbled 7% to 6,913.0.

Here at home, rising automotive sales offset declines in most other sectors and drove a modest gain in Canadian wholesale trade in November.

Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales increased 0.3% to $43.9 billion in November, similar to the 0.4% rise registered in October.

The Canadian dollar opened at US97.1¢ this morning, down about one-quarter of a cent from Friday’s close, and ahead of tomorrow’s interest rate announced from the Bank of Canada

The central bank widely expected to announce a quarter-point interest rate cut on Tuesday.

Oil prices fell sharply Monday as fears over the U.S. economy drove down stock markets in Asia and Europe.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell US$1.48 to US$89.09 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

On Friday, Toronto stocks closed lower U.S. President George Bush called for an economic stimulus package that would amount to about 1% of U.S. GDP.

The S&P/TSX composite closed down 58.51 points, or 0.46%, at 12,737.12.

The benchmark index lost 895 points over the week as investors unloaded stocks, particularly in the financial and commodities sectors.









The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 38.53 points, or 1.45%, at 2,619.21.

Bush’s announcement also drove down U.S. equity markets, which had rallied early in the day.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 59.91 points, or 0.49%, to close at 12,099.30. The S&P 500 lost 8.06 points, or 0.60%, to finish the day at 1,325.19.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite shed 6.88 points, or 0.29%, and ended the session at 2,340.02.

For the week, the Dow dropped 4%.