A.M. market numbers: December 1, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market looked headed for a positive open Tuesday as commodity prices rose amid rising belief on the part of investors that the Dubai credit crisis will be contained.

The Canadian dollar ran up 0.86 of a cent to 95.6 cents US.

New York futures also pointed to a higher open ahead of key data later in the morning from the housing and manufacturing sectors. The Dow Jones industrial futures rose 70 points to 10,404, the Nasdaq futures gained 17 points to 1,784.5 while the S&P 500 futures advanced 9.3 points to 1,104.1.

Positive economic data from China and a weaker U.S. dollar sent the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up 80 cents to US$78.08. A Chinese industry group released a survey showing manufacturing activity expanded in November for a ninth straight month.

Mining stocks could also take the TSX higher as the December bullion contract on the Nymex climbed $11 to US$1,192.10 an ounce while the December copper contract added two cents to US$3.17 a pound.

Investors felt better about the Dubai issue after the Persian Gulf emirate’s government-owned conglomerate Dubai World said that it had begun "constructive" discussions with its creditors over US$26 billion of its.

It said the restructuring would include about US$6 billion in Islamic bonds issued by its real estate arm, Nakheel PJSC. About US$3.5 billion of the bonds come due on Dec. 14, and Nakheel was viewed as the litmus test of Dubai World’s debt woes.

Markets were sent reeling late last week after Dubai World said it wanted to postpone payments on its approximately US$60 billion of debt for at least six months.

At the top of the economic calendar is the U.S. Institute for Supply Management’s assessment of manufacturing activity during November. The ISM survey is likely to show continued growth but fear remains as rising joblessness could deflate recoveries in the industrial sector and broader economy.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the index from the ISM will read 55 in November, compared with 55.7 in October — which was the best showing since April 2006. A reading above 50 indicates growth.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Commerce Department is likely to say construction spending fell in October as a surge in housing activity slowed and nonresidential construction remained weak.

Economists expect construction spending to have declined 0.5% in October following a 0.8% rise in September.

The National Association of Realtors will also release its pending home sales index for October.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 1.79%, while Germany’s DAX rose 1.96% while the CAC-40 in France was 1.87% higher.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 2.4%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.3% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9% after the government said exports rose from a year earlier in November for the first time in 13 months.

In corporate news, Barrick Gold Corp. says it has eliminated all of its gold hedges ahead of schedule. The hedges had limited Barrick’s ability to take advantage of rising gold prices, although they also were designed to protect the company from lower prices.

Elsewhere in the gold sector, Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. said Monday that drilling results support the company’s position that there is considerable exploration upside at its Kittila project in Finland and Pinos Altos project in Mexico. "Based on these recent drilling results, it is possible that Kittila will become our largest gold deposit, and one of the largest in Europe," chief executive Sean Boyd said in a statement.

Canada’s second-largest railway company says it’s making a half-billion voluntary payment to its pension plan. Canadian Pacific says it will use cash on hand to make the $500-million voluntary prepayment to its defined benefit pension plan.

There was also news of a deal between General Electric and Vivendi that opens the way for control of NBC Universal to be sold to the cable systems operator Comcast Corp. General Electric Co.’s agreement to buy out the rest of NBC Universal paves the way for it to sell control of the TV and movie company to Comcast in a deal that promises to reshape the entertainment industry.

A person with knowledge of the talks says GE will pay slightly less than the US$6 billion that French media conglomerate Vivendi SA hoped to command for its 20% stake in NBC Universal.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,344.84	+34.92 or +0.34%	+17.87%
S&P 500	1,095.63	+4.14 or +0.38%	+21.30%
NASDAQ	2,144.60	+6.16 or +0.29%	+35.99%
TSX Composite	11,447.20	-17.21 or -0.15%	+27.37%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,572.20	+226.65 or +2.43%	+8.04%
Hang Seng	22,113.15	+291.65 or +1.34%	+53.70%
SENSEX	17,198.27	+272.05 or +1.61%	+78.27%
FTSE 100	5,278.65	+87.97 or +1.69%	+19.04%
CAC 40	3,754.45	+74.30 or +2.02%	+16.67%
DAX	5,738.18	+112.23 or +1.99%	+19.29%

Bonds

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Bonds	$ Current	$ Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	104.44	104.38	3.20
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.90	119.82	3.82
U.S. 10-year bond	101.25	101.22	3.23
U.S. 30-year bond	102.47	102.50	4.23

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9560	0.9455
US $	1.0460	1.0576

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6347	0.6292
Euro	1.5755	1.5894

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,193.50	$1,104.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$77.97	+$0.69 or +0.89%

(12/01/09)