North American stocks drop sharply as oil slips even lower

Shares on Canada’s main stock exchange dropped sharply at the opening bell Thursday morning, joining other markets in a renewed sell-off that’s being fuelled by sustained anxieties about the health of the global economy.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 148.4 points, or 1.22 per cent, led lower by banking and energy shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 210.9 points at 15,703.88. The broader S&P 500 composite index declined 22.74 points to 1,829.12 shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET.

The Canadian dollar was down nearly a fifth of a U.S. cent to 71.6 cents U.S. On commodity markets, the March contract for WTI oil was down another 2 per cent to $26.88 a barrel.

MORE: Fears about oil glut and global banks trigger latest sell-off on TSX 

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