TSE, ME drop as selling trend reaches gold stocks

Volume is thin once again today.
Just 44 million shares crossed the
books this morning. The breadth
is more determinedly negative
than we’ve seen in some time. At
noon, decliners were ahead of
advancers about 5:3. The volume
is favouring sellers by about
3:2. Ominously, new lows are
outweighing new highs on the
market by more than 3:1.

The big problem for the TSE
today is that the golds have
joined the mainstream selling.
So have the energy stocks. Media,
consumer products and industrial
products are all joining the sales.
Barrick is down more than $1,
that’s more than 3%, after
announcing its third quarter
earnings. Nortel is down about
3.5%, dragging the market lower.
And there’s continued selling in
TD Bank, Seagram and the
biotechs.

So far, only paper stocks and
miners are resisting the downslide.
But that’s not nearly enough to
combat the broad-based selling.
Firms such as International Paper
and Bowater are up on good
earnings in the sector. Inco
is strong. So is Big Bear
Explorations, which is trading
heavily on news of claims decisions
in its favour.

In Montreal, stocks are trading
in line with Toronto, down about
36 points so far. In Alberta,
small caps are down too, off about
12 points. The VSE is flat to
negative.

In New York, volume is rather
light too. Stocks opened up, then
sold off about 100 points. Toward,
noon stocks began surging back to
their starting point. The Dow was
off about 20 points at noon. The
Nasdaq has been up 20 points,
and it’s been down 35. Currently
it’s down about 17. The S&P is
off 11 points.

The big business news this
morning is the announced merger
of DaimlerChrysler’s
DASA aerospace unit with France’s
Aerspatiale-Matra. The deal
will create one of the world’s
biggest aircraft builders.