By Gavin Adamson
(April 4 – 17:00 ET) – Investors rode a nasty wave today as indexes across North America fell by as much as 14%. The sell-off was mainly tech related. Once prices started to drop, margin trades were called in, worsening the ride.
The Nasdaq closed down 74.78, to 4149.99. The drop was led by a broad array of internet, computer software companies, and hardware and networking players. Among them were Microsoft, still feeling the ill effects of yesterday’s anti-trust news, and Cisco Systems.
The Dow was up and down all day. The index turned down by as much as 4.5%, only to recover some. It closed down 46.85 to 11175.08. Stable blue chips like Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson made gains. The S&P dipped by 11.20 to 1149.77. U.S. brokerages were hit hard. Merrill Lynch, Etrade, Chase Manhattan and Canada’s TD Waterhouse dropped in New York.
The TSE was down by as much as 600 points, and closed at 9141.84, off 232.89. The usual suspects, Nortel and BCE led the way. Nortel slipped C$6.05 to $166.50, and BCE knocked off $8.50 to $165. Fibre optics giant JDS Uniphase announced it would buy Cronos, a telecom equipment maker, but it was still swept up in the pessimism, closing down C$5.55 to $155. Research in Motion deflated by another $16.90 to $111.50.
The Royal Bank, up C$1.35 to $71.75, and other financial services stocks helped cap the TSE’s losses.
The CDNX slipped by 246.24 to 4,000.37. It’s tech index fell by 7.7%, led by Ecompark, off 10% to C$2.40, and Unique Broadband Systems, down 4.7% to $7.15.