North American markets closed lower Wednesday after more earnings warnings. The S&P/TSX composite index fell 87.49 points to 6,304.77.

Celestica was largely responsible for a 7.6% drop in the TSX information technology sector after it slashed its third-quarter sales and profit expectations. The stock plunged $5.01to $24.59.

Losers in the tech sector included Nortel Networks, down 9¢ at $1.30, and Zarlink Semiconductor, down 23¢ to $3.79.

Canadian banks took a hit when U.S. financial giant J.P. Morgan Chase issued and earnings warning. TD Bank was down 63¢to $29.35 and Royal Bank lost $1.03 to $53.06.

The consumer discretionary segment lost 2.3% as Quebecor World dropped $1.99 to $36.26 and Quebecor B fell $1.15 to $14.85.

The industrials group was down 1%, with Bombardier losing 14¢ to $5.07, and CAE slipping 30¢ to $4.75.

Metals and mining lost 1.1%. Noranda shed 39¢to $15.56 and Inco backed off 53¢to $25.77.

Wescam soared $2.90 to $9.45 after L-3 Communications of New York made a $188 million takeover bid for firm.

Toronto market volume was 189.8 million shares worth $2.55 billion. Declines beat advances 655 to 389, with 212 issues unchanged.

The TSX Venture Exchange eked out a 0.06-point gain to 996.27.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 35.03 points at 8,172.52. The Nasdaq composite index lost 7.70 points to 1,252.24. The S&P 500 index slid 4.04 points to 867.54.

Markets were driven sharply lower at the start of the session after a warnings from Oracle and J.P. Morgan chase made investors more nervous about pending third-quarter earnings reports.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.15¢ to close at US63.36¢.