On a snowy Monday in Toronto, stocks dropped to their lowest close in almost two weeks. Markets in Canada and America were besieged with the impact of bad news from a major telecom company. With earning season gearing up many traders decided to step lightly.

The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index closed down 85.37 points at 7,814.25 on light volume of 142 million shares worth $1.87 billion. Market momentum was negative as 619 issues declined and 476 advanced. Overall, 11 of the TSE 300’s 14 sub-indices fell. They were led by a drop in the tech-laden industrial products sector, which slipped 2.6%. Bank stocks slid back 0.7%.

Lucent Technologies Inc. the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, posted its eighth straight quarterly loss. Nortel Networks Corp., Lucent’s main competitor, slipped 42¢ to $5.87. Celestica Inc. fell $1.28 to $50.02.

Traders fled to the safe haven of gold stocks in early trading. But by the end of the day gold issues had added only a mere closing 0.8%. Barrick Gold added 16¢ to $28.86. Placer Dome Inc. climbed 7¢ to $19.07.

The S&P/CDNX Composite Index closed up 5.12 at 1172.13. Trading was heavy on a volume of 35.4 million shares worth 13.7 million dollars, with 203 advances, 246 declines and 569 issues unchanged.

South of the border, the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 120.68 points at 10,136.43. The NASDAQ composite index slipped 38.15 points, to 1,758.68.