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North American stocks fell at the start of trading on Monday, with financial stocks leading the way down.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 100 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 8956. Royal Bank of Canada fell 1.5 per cent, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce fell 1.2 per cent and Sun Life Financial Inc. fell 2.2 per cent.
Energy stocks were also weak, after the price of crude oil fell slightly to about $56 (U.S.) a barrel. Suncor Energy Inc. fell 1.8 per cent and Talisman Energy Inc. fell 0.9 per cent. However, Petro-Canada – which said it would delay a decision to develop the Fort Hills oils sands project in Alberta – rose 0.3 per cent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 141 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 8356. Anything associated with Wall Street and finance was down as investors again wrestled with the question of which names were likely to survive the current meltdown. After a brief period of calm, with no big blow-ups, the concern is that Citigroup Inc. could be in trouble. The shares fell 4.5 per cent, to just 9.09, after the financial firm announced it would cut 50,000 jobs. As well, Bank of America Corp. fell 2.9 per cent.
Economically defensive stocks bucked the trend in early trading: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose 0.7 per cent, McDonald's Corp. rose 0.6 per cent and Procter & Gamble Co. rose 0.3 per cent.
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