A.M. market numbers: August 18, 2009

| North American markets | International markets | Bonds | Currency | Commodities |

North American markets looked set to open higher Tuesday after fresh concerns about a U.S. economic recovery sent indexes around the world tumbling.

The Dow Jones industrial futures were 49 points higher to 9,169 after the blue-chip index fell 186 points on Monday. The Nasdaq futures were up 9.8 points to 1,576 while the S&P 500 futures gained 5.5 points to 983.8.

The Toronto market fell 316 points Monday after weak U.S. retail sales figures for July and a dismal read on American consumer confidence at the end of last week raised concerns about how much the American consumer can help drive an economic recovery.

Investors are aware that without the support of the U.S. consumer, which accounts for around 70% of the U.S. economy and 20% of the global economy, recovery will be muted at best.

A better-than-expected earnings report from Home Depot Inc. helped improve investor sentiment Tuesday while higher oil prices should benefit the Toronto market.

The September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 75 cents US$67.50 a barrel.

Other commodity prices also advanced following steep declines Monday. The December bullion contract on the Nymex gained $3.10 to US$938.90 an ounce and September copper inched up two cents to US$2.79 a pound.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.04 of a cent to 90.36 cents US.

Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that its fiscal second-quarter profit fell seven %, as the biggest home-improvement retailer in the U.S. shuttered its Expo business and continued to be pinched by the recession.

Still, the Atlanta-based company’s adjusted results beat Wall Street’s expectations, and it lifted its guidance for full-year earnings from continuing operations.

Home Depot earned $1.12 billion for the quarter while revenue dropped 9% to US$19.07, falling short of the $19.23 billion forecast of analysts polled. In pre-market trading, its shares were down $1.03 to US$26.11.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Commerce Department report later in the morning is expected to show the third straight monthly improvement in home construction. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters predict the department will say that construction of new homes and apartments grew 3.1% in July, while building permits, seen as a good indicator of future activity, rose 3%.

In overseas trading, Asia’s markets recovered following steep losses Monday but Shanghai’s main market recouped only a small chunk of declines.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8%.

In China, the Shanghai benchmark recouped early losses to rise 1.4%.

London’s FTSE 100 index advanced 0.73% while Frankfurt’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were each up about 0.6% after another batch of better than expected economic data out of Germany, Europe’s biggest economy.

Most notably, the ZEW research institute painted a far more rosy picture of investor sentiment than expected. Its main confidence index spiked up to 56.1 in August, way ahead of July’s 39.5 and analysts’ expectations for a more modest increase to 45. The news that Germany unexpectedly returned to growth in the second quarter helped sentiment bounce back strongly.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	9,135.34	-186.06 or -2.00%	+4.09%
S&P 500	979.73	-24.36 or -2.43%	+8.47%
NASDAQ	1,930.84	-54.68 or -2.75%	+22.44%
TSX Composite	10,531.59	-316.42 or -2.92%	+17.18%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,284.96	+16.35 or +0.16%	+16.09%
Hang Seng	20,306.27	+168.62 or +0.84%	+41.14%
SENSEX	15,035.26	+250.34 or +1.69%	+55.85%
FTSE 100	4,678.23	+33.22 or +0.72%	+5.50%
CAC 40	3,441.18	+21.49 or +0.63%	+6.94%
DAX	5,234.45	+32.84 or +0.63%	+8.82%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.90	102.05	3.40
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.87	117.19	3.88
U.S. 10-year bond	101.31	100.22	3.47
U.S. 30-year bond	103.09	97.14	4.32

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9036	0.9032
US $	1.1066	1.1072

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6409	0.6416
Euro	1.5604	1.5586

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 938.25	$932.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$67.35	+$0.60 or +0.90%

(08/18/09)