Politics was on the minds of U.S. investors as oil prices, sent lower by speculators betting on a U.S. election win for Senator John Kerry, pushed markets into the black on Monday. Oil prices hurt Canadian markets, but most of the damage was done by falling gold stocks.

At close, the S&P/TSX was off 12.74 points or 0.14% at 8858.23 and the TSX Venture Exchange slipped 22.37 or 1.37% at 1607.65. The Dow Jones industrial finished the day ahead by 26.92 points or 0.27% to 10054.39, as the Blue Chip index extended its winning streak to five sessions. The Nasdaq was up 4.88 or 0.25% to 1979.87 while the S&P/TSX was almost unchanged, up a mere 0.31 of a point to 1130.51.

The Canadian dollar was trading at US81.73¢ late in the day, down 0.37 of a cent from Friday’s close.

Trading on both sides of the border was light as many investors sat on the sidelines preferring to wait until all the votes are counted Tuesday evening in an election that many say is too close to call.

Some oil speculators, however, were casting their vote for Kerry in the hopes a Democrat win will ease the geopolitical friction that has helped fuel this year’s record-breaking rally in crude prices. U.S. light crude settled down $1.63 to US$50.13 after diving as low as US$49.30 a barrel, breaking below $50 the first time in nearly a month. U.S. crude peaked a week ago at $55.67 a barrel. In London, Brent crude lost $1.92 to US$47.06 a barrel.

In Toronto, energy issues were off 0.94%, with biggest hits taken by Suncor Energy (down 2.76%) and Nexen Inc. (off 0.29%). But it was gold shares that led the decline on the S&P/TSX; they fell 2.44% as Barrick Gold took it on the chin, falling 1.72%. Financial issues were off 0.28%.

Information technology issues – up 2.14% — helped constrain the losses on the main index.

In New York, companies most sensitive to the economy such as United Technologies Corp. were the biggest contributors to the Dow’s gain. Merck & Co. slumped, leaving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index little changed, after the Wall Street Journal reported the company fought for years to keep selling its Vioxx painkiller as safety risks surfaced.

Seven stocks rose for every five that fell on the New York Stock Exchange.

United Technologies, maker of Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Otis elevators, added $1.98 to US$94.80. Honeywell International Inc., the world’s biggest maker of cockpit electronics, rose $1.36 to US$35.04. The two stocks made up almost all of the Dow average’s gain.

Merck, the No. 2 drugmaker, fell $3.03 to US$28.28, its lowest close since May 1996. The Wall Street Journal cited internal Merck documents and marketing materials, including a 2000 e-mail from then-research chief Edward Scolnick, that tie Vioxx to heart risks. Merck spokesman Tony Plohoros said the materials may have been taken out of context.

Pfizer Inc., which makes the competing Celebrex and Bextra painkillers, lost 15¢ to US$28.80. An index of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies had the biggest drop among the S&P 500’s 24 industry groups, losing 1.1%.

PeopleSoft jumped $2.16, or 10%, to US$22.93, for the biggest gain in the S&P 500. Oracle Corp. raised its offer for the company to US$24 a share from US$21, increasing the pressure on the smaller software company to give up its 17-month fight against the bid. The US$8.8 billion offer is final, Oracle said in a statement. Oracle added 9¢ to US$12.75.