Hot News: TSX opens lower on oil price, interest rate uncertainty

The Toronto stock market racked up further losses as traders try to gauge just how far oil prices have to fall before hitting bottom and consider whether U.S. interest rates will head higher sooner than expected.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 120.1 points on top of a 330-point tumble on Monday. The Canadian dollar was up 0.28 of a cent to 87.37 cents US.

New York's Dow Jones industrials fell 154.59 points to 17,697.89, the Nasdaq lost 52.27 points to 4,688.42 and the S&P 500 futures dropped 18.4 points to 2,041.91.

Oil prices slipped 19 cents to $62.86 US a barrel after falling almost $3 US Monday in the wake of weak trade data from China that further depressed demand prospects, and a report from Morgan Stanley that suggested prices for Brent crude, an international benchmark, could fall to as low as $43 US a barrel next year.

Meanwhile, Fed concerns were back on the front burner ahead of the central bank's meeting on interest rates next week. The Wall Street Journal said Fed officials will likely affirm a plan to start raising short-term interest rates in 2015 and are debating eliminating a key phrase - that rates will stay low for 'a considerable time.'

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