Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index fell 299.63 points on Thursday to close at 13,737.00 in what was its fourth consecutive losing session.

New York markets were also solidly in the red, with the Dow Jones industrial average plunging 268.05 points to 17,080.68 on top of a 162-point decline Wednesday, putting the widely watched index four per cent below where it started the year.

Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at CMC Markets Canada, said activity in the markets is cooling as the weather outside heats up.

In addition to being the world’s third-largest economy behind the United States and China, it is also the world’s third-largest consumer of oil.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 trading in its tightest daily range in nearly a month, weighed down by earnings-related selling in Wal-Mart and a drop in materials stocks on concerns about China’s economic health.

“We’re seeing the impact come through another way, through commodities and the commodity sectors more than a direct effect”, he said.

In other commodities, natural gas edged up half a cent to US$2.71 per thousand cubic feet while copper lost a penny to US$2.28 a pound.

“Copper has been particularly sensitive to China because of infrastructure build”, Cieszynski said.

“It’s not a clear-cut story of this is good and getting better, it’s a lot of stop and go”, he said. “After a while you’ve gotten to a point where there’s nobody left to sell and it bounces back”.

“It’s a commodity economy as far as the market is concerned”, he said.