Stockhouse @ the Bell: Stocks plunge on economy gloom

Today on Stockhouse

Thom Calandra reports on the GATA Gold Rush gathering in London, England.
Rick Mills looks at the financing plans for a metals project in Quebec.

March Lichtenfeld notes that analysts still have the power to move stock prices
Your opinion matters. Submit an article to Stockhouse today at submissions@stockhouse.com. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Top Bullboards post: bfunk14 serves up a Globe and Mail opinion piece in the Sterling Resources Ltd. (TSX: V.SLG, Stock Forum) post. It reads as follows: “As I look at the situation, SLG is not going to be producing any hydrocarbons for some period of time. They are drilling, testing and evaluating which is cute as my old friend Peter Jahn used to say, but it’s not generating cash. Keep your powder dry and wait for a signal that this stock has exhausted all the selling.”

Top Bullboard: Yellow Media Inc. (TSX: T.YLO, Stock Forum) earned the most posts and the largest number of reads.

Top blog: Littleguy123 looks at the question of how high is “high,” when it comes to precious metals prices – and in particular the price of silver? In the Outside the Market blog.

For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.

Word on Wall Street

“We’re just worrying ourselves to death,” said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank. “How do you get out of this roller coaster of the relentless onslaught of bad news?” he said during an interview with MarketWatch.

Today In The Markets

Stocks plunge on fears of U.S. economic slowdown: TSX falls 436 points

DJIA	11,383.68	512.76
NASDAQ	2,556.39	-136.68
S&P500	1,200.07	-60.27
S&P/TSX	12,380.13	-435.90
S&P/TSX Venture	1,853.34	-112.38

Toronto & New York (The Canadian Press) - North American stock markets took a hammering Thursday as investors grew ever more pessimistic about the economy with evidence mounting that a serious slowdown may be under way.

The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 435.89 points to 12,380.13, its biggest one-day decline since late June, 2009, while the TSX Venture Exchange fell 112.34 points to 1,853.34.

New York markets also fell hard, with the Dow Jones industrial average tumbling 512.76 points to 11,383.68. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 136.68 points to 2,556.39 while the S&P 500 index was down 60.27 points to 1,200.07.

Please click here for the complete U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Pitney Bowes Inc.(NYSE: PBI, Stock Forum)
Pitney Bowes Inc. reported second quarter 2011 results. Revenue for the quarter was $1.3 billion, an increase of one percent compared with $1.29 billion in the prior year. Adjusted earnings per diluted share from continuing operations for the second quarter was $0.52 compared with $0.48 for the prior year. Income from continuing operations after incomes taxes as $105.5 million compared to $99.7 million a year earlier.

Vaaldiam Mining Inc. (TSX: T.VAA, Stock Forum)
Vaaldiam Mining Inc. reports that it did not make the installment of US$1.5 million which became due today under the previously announced March 2011 agreement with its joint venture partners in the Braúna project in Bahia State, Brazil under which the Company increased its interests in the Braúna project from 20% to 51%. Vaaldiam is in discussions with its partners to seek a mutually acceptable arrangement for addessing this payment.