Toronto following Nasdaq rollercoaster

Traders viewed 4,450 as an important technical barrier. Some feel that breaking that level, which has been the floor to other recent declines, could spark a much larger sell-off. The Nasdaq is already 13% off recent highs, more than 6% of that slide came today.

The Toronto Stock Exchange – which has tracked the Nasdaq up – is following it back down. The TSE 300 is off more than 400 points, although the losses remain confined to the tech stocks that have rallied the index up in recent months. Only four of the TSE’s 14 subgroups are down, but they are down massively.

Industrials, utilities and software in the consumer group are posting all the gains. Old economy stocks are making big gains, including financials, energy and paper stocks.