American International Group Inc.'s big first-quarter loss, coupled with stubbornly high oil prices, hammered U.S. stock market indexes early on Friday.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 126 points in early trading, to 12,741. Citigroup Inc. was one of just two stocks that were up (the other being JPMorgan Chase & Co.), after its chief executive outlined a plan to jettison $400-billion (U.S.) in assets from the bloated financial firm.
Meanwhile, AIG fell 6.7 per cent after its $7.8-billion loss stunned investors on Thursday after markets closed. General Motors Corp., looking more and more sensitive to the price of fuel, fell 1.8 per cent, Microsoft Corp. fell 0.9 per cent and General Electric Co. fell 1 per cent.
The broader S&P 500 fell 13 points, to 1385.
Crude oil rose to a new high of $125.80 a barrel, up $2.11. Gold rose to $883.87 an ounce, up $2.02.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index fared better than its U.S. counterpart given its higher exposure to commodity producers, but nonetheless fell 33 points, to 14,575. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. rose 1.2 per cent and Aeroplan Income Fund rose 0.9 per cent, after the income trust announced that it will convert into a corporation that will pay out a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents a quarter.
However, most of the Big Banks were down slightly and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. fell 1 per cent.
