Fear and panic trump good economic news as loonie, markets pounded

By: Eric Shackleton, THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - Just about every financial and economic indicator in Canada tumbled hard Friday, as ever-deepening uncertainty spread like a red stain through the international marketplace. The loonie and Canadian markets took historic hammerings as fear of a looming global recession sank oil prices, gold prices and almost every sector of the Toronto stock market, taking the shine off good employment news and new government help for the big banks. "This is clearly a crisis and it is pervasive," said BMO economist Sherry Cooper. "There's no ending of anything that's happening right now. Things are happening very quickly." The loonie suffered its biggest drop ever, at one point falling 4.78 cents to 82.50 cents US and sliding under 83 cents for the first time since early 2003. It recovered... [read full story]