By Stewart Lewis
(September 12 – 17:30 ET) – A technology sector recovery was not to be today. Continued worries over meagre corporate earnings haunted tech stock trading and cast a shadow over Canadian and American markets.
In the U.S., the Nasdaq composite index fell 1.2%, closing down 46.87 to 3,849.48. The Dow Jones industrial average index fared a little better. It gained 37.74 points, climbing to 11,233.23, after slipping 25 points yesterday. J.P. Morgan boosted the Dow. Speculation that the Wall Street investment bank may be taken over by Deutsche Bank or Chase Manhattan is rampant. Its shares rose US$8.75 to US$177.75.
Mirroring the fortunes of Nortel Networks, the Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index dropped again today. The TSE 300 lost 1.17%, 125.1 points, falling to 10,557.03. Nortel lost $6.10, sliding below the $100 mark to $94.50. It was a good day for the stock of the Videotron Group, though. Its stock rose $1.70 $43.70 amid reports that Quebecor Inc. has agreed to buy Videotron for $4.9 billion.
Despite heavy trading of 47.1 million shares worth $34.7 million, the CDNX fell, too. It declined 23.43 points to 3,613.36. Declining issued outnumbered advancing issues 308 to 270.