Investors hoping stock markets were approaching bottom saw those hopes sorely tried last week after concerns about the financial sector sent indexes crashing through last November’s lows.
The trigger was a $62-billion US quarterly loss by American International Group. The biggest ever loss for a U.S. corporation sent the Toronto market down 6.5 per cent for the week, falling to 2003 lows while the Dow Jones lost 6.17 per cent, tumbling to 1997 lows.
Sentiment was also hit by more miserable data from the U.S. showing a loss of 651,000 jobs last month, while the unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 per cent from 7.6 per cent.
