Oct. 28, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks have been moving steadily lower since the opening bell Wednesday morning, extending their big losses from the previous session as a stronger U.S. dollar dented commodity prices. By noon, the S&P/TSX composite index had plummeted 204.35 points, or 1.9%, to 10,849.19. Still, the TSX is up around 50% from lows reached during the throes of the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The Energy Index is down, with EnCana shares slipping 1.7%. Oil company Nexen said third-quarter profit plumeted on lower crude prices. Net income dropped to $122 million, or 23 cents a share, from $886 million, or $1.66, a year earlier. Nexen's revenue plunged to $1.1 billion from $2.2 billion. Shares are down more than 2%. OPTI Canada Inc. said its third-quarter net earnings was $12 million or $0.04 per share compared with a loss of $32 million or $0.16 per share in the prior year period. Shares have dropped almost 8%. Among miners, Sherritt reported that net income fell to $55.9 million or 19 cents per share in the third quarter, down from $133.1 million or 45 cents per share a year earlier. Shares are down 5%. The Canadian dollar had flopped 0.72 cents to 93.18 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All of the 14 TSX subgroups were down by lunch. Metals and mining stocks were off 6%, global base metals were down 4%, and materials were off 2.9% The TSX Venture Exchange tumbled 30.07 points to 1,276.39, while the Nasdaq Canada index lost 24.71 points to 651.67. ON WALLSTREET In New York, Stocks slipped near midsession Wednesday, with the Nasdaq sliding for the fourth straight session, as a weaker-than-expected new home sales report added to questions about the strength of the economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrials moved down 32.27 points to 9,849.90. The S&P 500 index slipped 9.97 points to 1,053.44. The Nasdaq composite index fell back 29.49 points to 2,086.60. A spate of better-than expected quarterly earnings gave a lift to markets earlier in the month, but that enthusiasm has been tempered recently by concerns about the still-burgenoning economic recovery. GMAC Financial Services is looking for a third bailout from the Treasury Department, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The lender is seeking between $2.8 billion and $5.6 billion U.S., according to the Journal. The U.S. owns a 35% stake in GMAC and has given it $13.4 billion U.S. since December 2008. Financial and technology shares were among the hardest hit stocks Wednesday. Dow financial components American Express, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase all declined. Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were among the other big bank shares sliding. On the tech side, Intel, Dell, Apple and Oracle were among the big losers. Economically speaking, new home sales fell to a 402,000 unit annualized rate in September from a revised 417,000 unit annualized rate in August, the Commerce Department reported. Sales were expected to rise to a 440,000 unit annualized rate, according to a consensus of analysts surveyed by Briefing.com. Elsewhere, orders for manufactured goods meant to last three years or more rose 1% in September, after falling 2.6% in the previous month. The rise was in line with estimates. Goods excluding transportation rose 0.9% after falling 0.4% in August. Economists thought they would rise 0.7%. Another report showed that fewer metro areas reported jobless rates above 10% in September than in the previous month. Thursday's reading on gross domestic product (GDP) growth is the key economic event of the week. GDP is expected to have grown at a 3.2% annualized rate in the third quarter after shrinking at a 0.7% annualized rate in the second quarter. GDP has declined steadily for four straight quarters, as Americans have contended with the worst recession since the Great Depression. But the end of the recession doesn't necessarily mean a return to a period of robust growth, particularly amid rising joblessness and still-sluggish consumer spending. Government stimulus programs have played a big role in the recovery, and there are concerns about the strength of the system once that support winds down. Treasury prices were up, lowering the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.41% from Tuesday's 3.45%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil fell $1.79 to $77.74 U.S. Gold prices were down two dollars at $1,034 U.S. an ounce.