More signs of corporate mismanagement and a
spate of unimpressive earnings reports Friday had Toronto stocks testing their post-Sept. 11 lows. The TSX composite index finished with a loss of 179.91 to end at 6,535.44

All 10 of the index’s 10 groups closed lower, led by a 3.8% drop in the heavily weighted banking stocks and a 3.6% fall among industrial issues. Information technology issues
were off 2.9%.

TD Bank, which doubled its loan-loss provisions because of telecom loans, fell $2.35 to $31.10. Royal Bank fell $2 to $49.75, CIBC declined $2.45 to $42.60, Scotiabank was down $2.01 to $47 and Bank of Montreal declined $1.05 to $33.80.

The banks suffered because of negative outlooks from the tech companies, giving investors reason to believe more loan losses might be coming.

The health care and industrial sectors were both off more than 3%.

Nortel, which was dropped from the S&P 500 composite index at the end of trading, fell 2¢ to $2 on volume of
62.7 million shares.

Contract electronics maker Celestica Inc. closed off $1.28 at $32.55.

Gold stocks gained 1%. Barrick Gold jumped 21¢ to $26. on heavy volume of 9.9 million shares. Placer Dome Inc. shed 39¢ to $16.60.

Overall, decliners beat out advancers 710 to 333, with 200 unchanged, in trading of 219.7 million shares.

In economic news, Canada’s merchandise trade surplus fell by almost $1 billion in May to $4.5 billion, the eighth straight decline in a year. As well, Statistics Canada said wholesale sales fell 1.2% in May after six straight months of growth.

The junior TSX Venture Exchange rose 2.93 points to 1,103.25.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged to its lowest close since October 1998, as a criminal probe Johnson & Johnson and weak outlooks from the tech sector set a negative tone.

The Dow finished with a loss of 390.23 points, or 4.6%, to 8,019.26. With the decline, the Dow has now gone through the intraday low of 8062 it hit when trading resumed following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Nasdaq fell 37.88 points, or 2.8%, to 1,319.07, and the S&P 500 dropped 33.81 points, or 3.8%, to 847.75.

Software giant Microsoft fell 3% to $49.56 a day after reporting fourth-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates by a penny. But the company also lowered guidance for 2003.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson lost 16% to $41.85 after the company confirmed federal regulators have launched a criminal investigation into one of its factories in Puerto Rico. Regulators are worried about an increase in a serious blood disease in Europe and Canada and the potential it is connected to an anemia treatment made at the J&J plant.

The U.S. consumer price index rose 0.1% in June after showing no change in May. The core rate, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, also rose 0.1% following 0.2% increase the previous month. The numbers were slightly below economists’ expectations, but show that inflation remains dormant.

The U.S. trade deficit rose to a record-setting $37.64 billion in May as a result of consumer demand for imported automobiles, food and consumer goods, the Commerce Department said. Economists were expecting the data to show a $35.23 billion trade gap.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.19¢ to US64.96¢.