A.M. market numbers: August 27, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market will find support at the open as strong earnings reports from three of the big Canadian banks beat expectations.

Profits at Royal Bank surged 24% during the third quarter of 2009 to $1.6 billion or $1.05 per share for the quarter ended July 31, up from year-earlier net income of $1.3 billion or 92 cents per share.

Excluding one-time items, cash earnings per share totalled $1.21 per share, well above analyst estimates of 93 cents a share. Royal Bank said provisions for credit losses increased more than 40% from year-earlier levels to $770 million.

The Royal is one of three of the big banks reporting results Thursday.

National Bank of Canada says profits increased 6% to $303 million or $1.78 a share during the third quarter of 2009. Excluding one-time items, which included a $24-million charge related to asset-backed commercial paper, the bank says earnings totalled $1.79 per share. Analysts had expected $1.38 a share.

National Bank says total revenues rose to $1.13 billion from $1.08 billion a year ago.

And TD Bank Financial Group reported third-quarter net income of $912 million or $1.01 per share, down from year-earlier profits of $997 million or $1.21 per share. Adjusted earnings totalled $1.3 billion or $1.47 per share.

The TSX closed slightly lower Wednesday, weighted down by an earnings report from CIBC that missed expectations.

Energy stocks could be lower as oil prices continued to decline on demand concerns. The October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 34 cents to US$71.09 a barrel following two days of losses that have carved about US$3 from the price of oil.

Other commodity prices were mixed as the December bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $5.90 to US$951.70 an ounce while September copper declined 3.5 cents to US$2.8535 a pound.

The Canadian dollar was higher following two days of sharp declines that followed a warning from the Bank of Canada that it is prepared to intervene to stop the sharp rise of the loonie that could derail the economic recovery. The loonie was up 0.32 to 91.41 cents US.

U.S. stock futures were lower ahead of key economic data coming out later in the morning.

The Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 futures fell slightly less than 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 index futures declined 0.1%.

A revised gross domestic product reading is expected to show the economy shrank at an annualized rate of 1.5% in the second quarter, slightly worse than the first estimate of a decline of 1%.

And another report is expected to show the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits for the first time likely fell last week, reversing the trend of the previous two weeks. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters expect the number of claims to fall to a seasonally adjusted 565,000 from 576,000 the previous week.

Overseas, Asian stocks fell after China said it would cut excessive investment in some industries, while European stocks were mixed.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 1% while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 average slid 1.6%.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.03%, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.4% and the Paris CAC 40 inched up 0.09%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	9,543.52	+4.23 or +0.04%	+8.74%
S&P 500	1,028.12	+0.12 or +0.01%%	+13.82%
NASDAQ	2,024.43	+0.20 or +0.01%	+28.37%
TSX Composite	10,912.17	-8.36 or -0.08%	+21.41%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,473.97	-165.74 or -1.56%	+18.22%
Hang Seng	20,242.75	-213.57 or -1.04%	+40.70%
SENSEX	15,781.07	+11.22 or +0.07%	+63.58%
FTSE 100	4,894.22	+3.64 or +0.07%	+10.38%
CAC 40	3,675.62	+7.28 or +0.20%	+14.22%
DAX	5,505.95	-16.02 or -0.29%	+14.46%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.97	102.98	3.39
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.56	118.66	3.90
U.S. 10-year bond	101.28	101.53	3.47
U.S. 30-year bond	104.50	104.75	4.23

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9141	0.9112
US $	1.0940	1.0975

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6411	0.6394
Euro	1.5598	1.5640

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$943.50	$940.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$71.16	-$0.27 or -0.38%

(08/27/09)