The S&P/TSX composite index was down 50.95 points at 14,226.93 in early afternoon trading.
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“It’s a commodity economy as far as the market is concerned”, he said.
On commodity markets, energy prices continued to drift lower, with the September crude contract down three cents at US$42.47 a barrel and September natural gas down seven cents at US$2.73 per thousand cubic feet.
“It’s in a very nervous place right now, if it (the price of oil) breaks down a couple more dollars it could be very, very ugly”, said John Kinsey, a portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.
Dow Jones Industrial Average e-mini futures 1YMc1 were down 0.03 percent at 7:15 a.m. ET, while S&P 500 e-mini futures ESc1 were down 0.11 percent and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures NQc1 were down 0.06 percent. [.N].
In addition to being the world’s third-largest economy behind the United States and China, it is also the world’s third-largest consumer of oil.
“It’s not a clear-cut story of this is good and getting better, it’s a lot of stop and go”, he said.
The loonie traded at 76.16 cents US, down 0.22 of a U.S. cent from Friday.
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Kinsey said Canadian banks are being targeted by foreign investors anxious about exposure to the country’s energy industry and risk from a possible housing bubble, while many Canadian investors are compelled to hold them due to their size relative to the overall market.
