North American stock markets followed the worst first quarter since at least the 2008 financial crisis with a poor start to April that was no joke.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 516.82 points or nearly 4% to 12,861.93.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 973.65 points at 20,943.51. The S&P 500 index was down 114.09 points at 2,470.50, while the Nasdaq composite was down 339.52 points at 7,360.58.

The Canadian dollar traded for US70.34¢ compared with an average of US70.49¢ on Tuesday.

The May crude contract was down 17 cents at US$20.31 per barrel and the May natural gas contract was down 5.3 cents at US$1.59 mmBTU.

The June gold contract was down US$5.20 at US$1,591.40 an ounce and the May copper contract was down 5.35 cents at US$2.17 a pound.