The TSX composite was lower, falling 62.29 points to 12,403.83 in mid-morning trading on Friday. The Dow was down 131.22 to 13,417.72, while NASDAQ fell 43.12 to 3,029.75.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission blocked BCE Inc.'s (TSX: T.BCE, Stock forum) $3-billion takeover of Astral Media Inc. (TSX: T.ACM.A, Stock Forum) on Thursday, declaring the deal would give too much power to BCE, already the country's biggest telecoms company and owner of numerous TV and radio assets. Shares in Astral fell 15.79% and was trading at $39.49 a share.
On Wall Street, the tech sector disappointed after two of the largest companies, Microsoft Corp. (NYSE: MSFT, Stock Forum) and Google Inc. (NYSE: GOOG, Stock Forum), reported results that fell short of expectations.
Microsoft shares lost 2.32%, after the company reported third-quarter sales that came in flat late Thursday. Google shares dropped 1.74% in mid-morning trading.
The price of gold lowered to US$13.35 to US$1,728.08 an ounce, while silver stumbled US$0.51 to U$32.28 an ounce.