TORONTO — The Toronto Stock Exchange has dropped below 14,000 points for the first time since mid-December as the price of oil approached US$40 a barrel. The S&P/TSX composite index was down nearly 200 points at one point Thursday morning but revived somewhat to 13,875.89, down 160.74 points from the previous close. The September crude contract was down seven cents at US$41.20 a barrel — approaching levels that are considered too low for Canadian producers to extract oil at a profit. The Dow Jones industrial average was down 185.24 points at 17,163.49, the Nasdaq index fell 74.83 points to 4,944.22, and the S&P 500 declined 21.14 points to 2,058.47. The loonie traded at 76.32 cents US, up 0.04 of a U.S. cent from Wednesday’s close. On the commodity markets, the December gold contract jumped $21.50 to US$1,149.40 an ounce and the September contract for natural gas was up five cents at US$2.76.

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