The bears took the bulls by the horns during Wednesday trading on the Canadian Markets, as lower than expected retail sales out of the United States spooked the traders. For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange plunged 3.65%, while the TSX Gold Index gave back 1.3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, fell 2.29% with the decliners swamping the advancers by a 521 to 316 margin on 181 million shares traded.