Stocks in North America fell across most industries on Tuesday morning as uncertainty continued to reign in Europe.
The S&P/TSX fell 103.53 points to 11757.13, led by the materials sector. Shares of HudBay Minerals gave up more than 1 per cent in the opening minutes of trading, while Ivanhoe Mines lost almost 3 per cent. Discount retailer Dollarama saw its shares gain almost 1 per cent.
In New York, the S&P 500 slid 9.82 points to 1359.76 and the Dow Jones industrial average gave up 87.04 points to 12921.49 points.
Shares of McDonald's Corp. fell 2 per cent, after the company issued a rare piece of bad news, saying that same-store sales in April rose less than expected. Cisco Systems declined 2 per cent and Bank of America lost almost 1 per cent. Telecommunications was the only sector registering any gain.
Investors are moving away from riskier assets after parliamentary elections in France and Greece last weekend put future austerity programs at risk.
As U.S. Treasuries rose, commodities saw a broad selloff. The price of oil slid 89 cents (U.S.), to $97.05 a barrel, as U.S. inventories hovered at their highest level in more than two decades.
Copper, a bellwether of global economic conditions, fell more than 2 per cent to $3.70 a pound. Gold was down $11.30, sinking to $1,627.80.
Currencies of commodity-producing nations are getting hit today. A U.S. dollar buys 99.6 Canadian cents, with the loonie down 0.3 cent.
There was some positive news out of Europe today, with Germany reporting that industrial output rose more 2.8 per cent in March, up from 0.3 per cent in February and far above consensus estimates of 0.8 per cent.