Bruising

After a bruising ride on roller-coaster markets, the treasurer of Canada’s chief natural gas- and oil-producing jurisdiction is urging its residents to think about weaning public services off a reliance on resource windfalls.

December natural gas suffered a bruising double-digit loss Tuesday in what observers noted was at least a temporary joining of hands with free-falling petroleum and Greece-centric equity markets. At the close December had fallen 15.3 cents to $3.781 and January had retreated 13.6 cents to $3.920. December crude oil dropped $1.00 to $92.19/bbl; the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 297 points to 11,658, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index shed a whopping 35 points to 1,218.