P Index: Points and P Tsx

p index: Canadian dollars fall in a photo illustration in Vancouver from 2011, according to The Toronto Star. JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 608.01 points to 24,583.42. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 2.5 per cent or 376.04 points to 14,909.13. The S&P 500 index lost 84.59 points to 2,656.10, while the Nasdaq composite shed 4.4 per cent or 329.14 points to 7,108.40. The December crude contract was up 39 cents at US 66.82 per barrel and the December natural gas contract was down 5.6 cents at US 3.23 per mmBTU. Article Continued Below The December gold contract was down US 5.70 at US 1,231.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was essentially unchanged at US 2.76 a pound. The Canadian dollar traded at an average of 76.75 cents US compared with an average of 76.35 cents US on Tuesday in the wake of the Bank of Canada's decision to raise its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 1.75 per cent. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.