A.M. market numbers: December 2, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market appears headed for a slightly lower open Wednesday after chalking up a solid advance in the previous session as oil prices slipped and investors took in some key U.S. employment data.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.24 of a cent to 95.78 cents US.

American futures pointed to a weak open after New York markets also ran up sharply Tuesday as a weak greenback sent commodity prices higher and investors felt the Dubai debt crisis would be contained.

The emirate sent shock waves through markets a week ago with the announcement that its investment conglomerate, Dubai World, wanted a standstill on it’s approximately US$60 billion of debt for at least six months. Investors are now hopeful that Dubai World will have around US$26 billion worth of its debts restructured.

The Dow Jones industrial futures slipped seven points to 10,454, the Nasdaq futures were off 0.5 of a point to 1,791.5 while the S&P 500 futures added a point to 1,109.4.

Ahead of Friday’s release of November jobless figures, the U.S. ADP National Employment Report said that 169,000 private sector jobs were lost in November. That marks the eighth consecutive month of declining job losses, providing further evidence the country’s economy is recovering. Economists had estimated that Friday’s government non-farm payrolls report would show that 114,000 jobs were lost in the U.S. during November.

Investors will also be looking to the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s assessment of regional economic activity.

Crude prices slipped after the weak American currency and a positive manufacturing report from China sent oil up more than $2 in the last two sessions. The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 53 cents to US$77.84 a barrel.

The TSX could find support from the gold sector as bullion moved further into record territory. The December contract on the Nymex gained $11.40 to US$1,210.50 an ounce. The December copper contract was unchanged at US$3.20 a pound after jumping 10 cents so far this week.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was up 0.4% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.8%.

London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.19%, the Frankfurt DAX was flat while the Paris CAC 40 added 0.26%.

In corporate news, Agrium Inc. is taking steps to remove directors at CF Industries Holdings’ who have been blocking the Canadian fertilizer company’s hostile takeover bid for the Illinois-based company. Agrium says it will nominate a slate of directors for election at CF’s 2010 annual meeting and has challenged CF’s current board to allow shareholders to decide whether they want to accept the takeover offer worth about US$4.95 billion.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. will be restarting operations at its Sussex-area mine Sunday following a temporary shutdown, but there is no certainty how long the work will last. Demand for potash is still weak globally and little product has moved out of the province, mine general manager Mark Fracchia said in an interview Tuesday.

Canadian National Railway Co. is offering to send just the issue of wages and benefits to binding arbitration in an effort to settle a strike by the railway’s locomotive engineers. Ottawa has introduced back-to-work legislation to end a second CN strike in as many years.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,471.58	+126.74 or +1.23%	+19.32%
S&P 500	1,108.86	+13.23 or +1.21%	+22.76%
NASDAQ	2,175.81	+31.21 or +1.46%	+37.97%
TSX Composite	11,707.32	+260.12 or +2.27%	+30.26%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,608.94	+36.74 or +0.38%	+8.46%
Hang Seng	22,289.57	+176.42 or +0.80%	+54.92%
SENSEX	17,169.91	-28.36 or -0.16%	+77.98%
FTSE 100	5,308.55	-3.62 or -0.07%	+19.72%
CAC 40	3,783.78	+8.04 or +0.21%	+17.58%
DAX	5,777.64	+1.03 or +0.02%	+20.11%

Bonds

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Bonds	$ Current	$ Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	104.13	104.44	3.24
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.28	119.90	3.86
U.S. 10-year bond	100.75	101.25	3.29
U.S. 30-year bond	101.69	102.47	4.27

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9560	0.9554
US $	1.0460	1.0467

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6344	0.6347
Euro	1.5763	1.5755

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,211.50	$1,192.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$77.97	-$0.40 or -0.51%

(12/02/09)