The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that signs of carnage in Canada's capital markets are cropping up again, putting the futures of independent dealers in doubt. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that although independents such as GMP Capital, Canaccord Genuity Group and FirstEnergy Capital have struggled to make money for many years, there is a new round of worries, prompted by new losses and layoffs. FirstEnergy laid off 12 per cent of its staff earlier this month. GMP posts earnings Thursday which are expected again to be weak. Scotia Capital analyst Sumit Malhotra says, "The trend in domestic investment banking activity in the past few years has really been one of the 'haves' and 'have-nots.'" Energy companies that raised money, for instance, have mostly awarded underwriting positions to banks that lent them money, leaving little for the independents. As well, small-to-mid-capitalization companies that independents historically advised have barely been active in these markets. The bank-owned dealers have had their own hiccups. Bank of Montreal's capital markets arm just laid off about 50 people. Bank of Nova Scotia made similar cuts over the past six months.