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Fed chief sinks Americas
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July 21, 1998: 5:33 p.m. ET
Greenspan comments drive Canadian, most Latin stock markets lower
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Stock markets throughout the Americas ended lower on Tuesday in the wake of inflation worries on Wall Street leading to a general U.S. stock retreat.
Of the hemisphere's major equities markets, only Caracas reported gains, and even those were minimal.
The Venezuelan IBC index closed up a scant 2.86 points at 5,121.35 on volume of 306 million shares.
Mexican stock prices fell the furthest, dipping alongside their U.S. counterparts following bearish comments by U.S. Fed chairman Alan Greenspan about the U.S. economy.
Mexico's leading IPC index of stocks fell 49.95 points, or 1.09 percent, to 4,552.74, mirroring a 1.14 percent decline on the Dow Jones industrials. Volume on the local market was a thin 46.9 million shares.
"We fell due to the United States, the Dow and definitely Greenspan," said Carlos Escalante, an independent financial analyst. "There were companies that went ahead to the (quarterly) results and profits are being taken immediately ahead of the announcements."
"Definitively after Greenspan spoke we began to see the loss in the stock market, and that was the pretext to continue taking profits," added a trader.
Nevertheless, market leader Telephonos de Mexico (TMX) advanced 0.43 percent as investors awaited positive financial data due Tuesday evening.
Toronto stocks were also caught in New York's downdraft, but avoided tumbling too far.
The Toronto Stock Exchange's 300 Composite Index fell 23.26 points, 0.31 percent, to close at 7,409.40. Dealings were thin with only 79 million shares traded.
A number of blue chip U.S. and Canadian companies released quarterly results on "Super Tuesday," the single busiest earnings reporting day of the quarter.
Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) anticipated the push, reporting Monday that its second-quarter earnings were 18 cents per share, compared to 16 cents per share in the same period last year.
Pressure from Greenspan and Wall Street also pushed Brazilian shares lower, brokers said.
The Sao Paulo exchange's Bovespa index ended down 118 points, 1.07 percent, at 10,923.
Not even news that the 12 holding companies spun off from Telebras (TBN) will be co-listed on the Sao Paulo and New York Stock Exchanges lifted the market.
Brazilian Communications Minister Luiz Carlos Mendonca de Barros said on Tuesday the Brazilian telephone giant's listing in the United States would take place simultaneously with the listing of the new holding companies on local stock exchanges. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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