The TSE, which was forced to halt trading several times over the day as volume on Nortel shares threatened to crash the system, was down almost 600 points at the close. That's a drop of 6.68%, taking it down to 8,367.7.
In light of Nortel's announcement that it would post a loss of four cents a share in the first quarter and expects a downturn throughout 2001 because of the slumping U.S. economy, Corning decided to re-evaluate its own outlook. The U.S. fibre-optics giant cut its revenue growth projections on Friday morning to 50% from earlier guidance of 75 to 90%.
Compounding the earnings warnings from Nortel and Corning was double-witching expiration of stock options and stock index options in the U.S. Expiration days always add volatility to the markets.
By market close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 113 points to 10,777, the Nasdaq fell 127 points at 2,425 and the S& P 500 composite index slipped 26.6 points to 1,300.
