TORONTO -- North American markets entered the fourth quarter deep in the red, adding to losses from September as weaker than expected American manufacturing data fuelled concerns about a faltering global economy.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 155.07 points to 14,805.44 after racking up a four per cent loss with traders also nervous about the pace of future U.S. interest rate hikes.
New York markets also sold off and the Dow Jones industrials plunged 238.19 points to 16,804.71 as the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index came in at 56.6, down from 59 in August. It was also well short of the 58 reading that economists had expected and added to weak manufacturing reports in recent days from China and Europe.
The Nasdaq fell 71.3 points to 4,422.09 and the S&P 500 index was down 26.13 points to 1,946.16.
The Canadian dollar was up 0.22 of a cent to 89.51 cents US as the greenback weakened following the mid-morning release of the manufacturing data.
