North American stocks fell at the start of trading on Friday, contrasting with what has been an exceptionally tame week so far, as investors fretted over concerns that a bailout deal with Greece might be falling apart.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 102 points or 0.8 per cent, to 12,788. The broader S&P 500 fell 10 points or 0.8 per cent, to 1,342. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 137 points or 1.1 per cent, to 12,361.
Greek policy makers had cobbled together an austerity plan on Thursday, but it was rejected by euro zone members as inadequate – suggesting that the country might be at risk of losing bailout funds necessary to keep it from sliding into a messy default. Meanwhile, Greek workers protested cuts already on the table.
All 30 Dow members were down, indicating a broad selloff. Economically sensitive stocks led the retreat: Alcoa Inc. fell 2.5 per cent, JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 1.4 per cent and Chevron Corp. fell 1.3 per cent.
Canadian stocks were hit by tumbling commodity prices. Gold GC-FT fell to $1,714 (U.S.) an ounce, down $27. Crude oil CL-FT fell to $98.34 a barrel, down $1.50. Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. COS-T fell 3.4 per cent, Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T fell 0.9 per cent and Barrick Gold Corp. ABX-T fell 1.6 per cent.
Manulife Financial Corp. MFC-T fell 3 per cent, a day after reporting a quarterly loss and announcing that its chief financial officer is leaving the company.
