A.M. market numbers: December 9, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market headed for a positive open following four days of declines as commodity prices steadied amid a weaker American currency and continued nervousness about foreign debt loads.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.31 of a cent to 94.3 cents US.

New York futures signalled a higher open a day after North American indexes slid in the wake of a warning from Moody’s Investor Service that the U.S. and Britain are at risk of having their ratings downgraded if they don’t get their finances under control. And Fitch downgraded its rating on Greece.

"Greece’s debt downgrade will still be adding to worries about the exposure of European banks," said Arifa Sheikh-Usmani, equity trader at Spreadex in London.

On Wednesday, Greece’s finance minister pledged that the country would not default on its debt obligations.

Moody’s also cut the ratings of six Dubai government-linked companies, leaving all in junk status.

The Dow Jones industrial futures rose 43 points to 10,314, the Nasdaq futures gained eight points to 1,776.5 and the S&P 500 futures were up 5.3 points to 1,095.3.

The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 93 cents to US$73.55 after losing ground over the past few sessions on a rising U.S. dollar and data showing rising oil inventories.

The February gold contract in New York slipped 20 cents to US$1,143.20 an ounce while March copper added a penny to US$3.18.

An upbeat profit and sales forecast from chipmaker Texas Instruments Inc. is also helping to boost investor sentiment. The technology giant said late Tuesday that it is seeing an increase in demand for chips used in cell phones and other electronics.

In other corporate news, Calgary-based oil and gas producer Nexen Inc. said it plans to spend $2.5 billion next year on capital projects in Canada and abroad. Most of Nexen’s spending on oilsands will be at the Long Lake project which is ramping up following improvements completed in September. Nexen is developing the Long Lake project in the Athabasca oilsands with Opti Canada Inc.

Opti announced Tuesday it plans a $120-million capital program for 2010, including $92 million for its share of Phase 1 at Long Lake and $23 million for Phase 2 at the oilsands project.

General Electric Co. says profits at its lending arm will start improving by 2011, but first it will have to slog through another year of big losses on loans gone bad in areas like commercial real estate .The conglomerate told analysts Tuesday that profit is expected to be flat next year, ranging between US$2 billion to $2.5 billion, and then rise in 2011.

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. said Tuesday it has signed a deal with BHP Billiton to buy the Ravensthorpe nickel operation in Australia for US$340 million. Ravensthorpe was completed in 2007, however operations were suspended in January due to low nickel prices.

Earlier, investors in Asia were also rattled by government figures showing that Japan grew far less than originally expected in the third quarter, at an annualized rate of 1.3% instead of 4.8%, as cautious companies slashed spending.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s key index shed 1.4%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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	Open	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	10,285.97	-104.14 or -1.00%	+17.20%
S&P 500	1,091.94	-11.31 or -1.03%	+20.89%
NASDAQ	2,172.99	-16.62 or -0.76%	+37.79%
TSX Composite	11,368.93	-120.70 or -1.05%	+26.49%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,004.72	-135.75 or -1.34%	+12.93%
Hang Seng	21,741.76	-318.76 or -1.44%	+51.12%
SENSEX	17,125.22	-102.46 or -0.59%	+77.51%
FTSE 100	5,230.39	+7.26 or +0.14%	+17.96%
CAC 40	3,791.31	+6.01 or +0.16%	+17.82%
DAX	5,698.88	+10.30 or 0.18%	+18.47%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.80	103.78	3.28
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.20	118.35	3.91
U.S. 10-year bond	99.72	100.02	3.41
U.S. 30-year bond	99.67	100.34	4.39

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9437	0.9480
US $	1.0597	1.0549

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6395	0.6409
Euro	1.5636	1.5603

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,142.25	$1,146.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$73.39	+$0.77 or +1.06%

(12/09/09)