1545 GMT the Toronto Stock Exchange'sSPTSX composite index

We're going to pour everything that we have into winning at home against the Cowboys. That's our focus."If they don't coach better, play better or evaluate better it could be the end of the road for McCarthy, his staff, some of the players and Ted Thompson. It's time for the playmakers to make plays, defenders to defend and put pressure on the quarterback. Lower oil and gold prices pull down Toronto index Stocks Global Markets Index hits lowest level since Dec 31 Slide extends last week's 1.6 percent selloff (Adds details and updates prices) By Frank Pingue TORONTO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index wasdown more than 200 points, hitting its lowest level since Dec31, on Monday as lower prices for key Canadian commodities suchas oil and gold pulled the resource-heavy index down. The slide extends last week's selloff, which saw the marketfinish the week 1.6 percent lower, a drop that was attributedlargely to falling oil prices.

Nagging concerns that a global slowdown will crimp pricesfor oil shook the energy sector again on Monday, while thematerials group buckled as prices for gold and other preciousmetals slid. "It's still early in week and there are no economic reportsleft today so I have a feeling that the big story today will beoil and commodities," said Steve Ibel, institutional equitiestrader at Beacon Securities, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The materials group, home to gold mining shares, sufferedthe biggest drop, down 5.6 percent, while the energy sectorfollowed with a 3 percent skid Eight of the TSX's 10 sectorswere down At 10:45 a.m. (1545 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange'sS&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 202.45 points, or2.23 percent, at 8,882.73 Earlier, it had fallen as low as8,824.25. Oil prices were down more than $2 to below $39 a barrel dueto growing evidence that recession is reducing global energyconsumption. The price of oil has shed more than $100 from arecord peak of above $147 a barrel last July.

Toronto's energy sector accounts for about 22 percent ofthe overall index, so any significant moves in oil prices canoften dictate the direction of the market Gold prices were 3.5 percent lower as the U.S. dollarrallied against the euro on expectations for an interest ratecut in the euro zone later this week. That was enough to convince jittery investors to unloadshares of gold miners and most other stocks as they had less ofan appetite for riskier assets ahead of fourth-quarter earningsreports that could spotlight further deterioration in theeconomy. Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) shares were 4 percent lower atC$37.63, while Goldcorp (G.TO) sank 5 percent to C$30.70.

($1$1.20 Canadian) (Reporting by Frank Pingue; editing by Peter Galloway) ( ; 1 416 941-8094; ReutersMessaging: )) Stocks Global Markets. BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS, Jan 12 (MARKET WIRE) Nortel(1) (TSX: NT)(NYSE: NT) extended its Ethernet series of datasolutions today by unveiling the new Nortel Ethernet Routing Switch 5600family to enable a more cost-effective, flexible and reliable deploymentof high-capacity, high-performance networks that provide criticalcompetitive advantage for enterprises."This is more than a new line of stackable switches for traditionaldeployments. Given the performance and resiliency they bring to the datacenter environment, this new line offers enterprises flexibility at avery aggressive price point," said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president,Yankee Group(2). "This bolsters Nortel's unified communications solutionportfolio, but more importantly, it demonstrates that Nortel is movingforward in designing new products that represent strong offerings andcommitment to the enterprise market."This new line of high-end, stackable Nortel switches was designed andengineered from the ground up to be a break from the evolutionaryapproach to building data products to deliver real-time unifiedcommunications with market-leading performance and features. The fiveswitches in the new ERS 5600 series offer up to 18 times the stackingperformance, up to twice the capacity, and up to seven-times theresiliency of the stackable switches from the primary competition, at afraction of the expense."Nortel's solution provides the base for unified communications andsimplifies our network infrastructure, providing industry-leadingfunctionality and performance combined with excellent throughput,reliability and affordability," said Allen Frost, network architect,Novell(2). "It also requires less equipment and that translates tosavings in terms of capital and operational costs. The ERS 5600 switchesproved to be simple to deploy, and we anticipate significant productivityenhancements as well as ongoing cost savings with this data networkingsolution.""Enterprises recognize the power of unified communications - thechallenge is how to get there from here," said Joel Hackney, president,Enterprise Solutions, Nortel.