A.M. market numbers for February 8, 2010

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

The Toronto stock market could find support in early trading from higher commodity prices as investors put aside worries about debt problems in countries like Greece and Portugal.

The Candian dollar moved up 0.15 to 93.61 cents US.

U.S. futures pointed to a positive open following a flat finish last week with the Dow Jones industrial futures up 11 points to 9,952, the Nasdaq futures points advanced four points to 1,749 while the S&P 500 futures gained 2.1 points to 1,061.9.

Oil prices headed higher after three days of declines with the March crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 44 cents to US$71.63.

The April gold contract on the Nymex gained $18.10 to US$1,070.90 an ounce while March copper added two cents to US$2.88 a pound.

Markets had been pressured for most of last week by fears about unsustainable government debt in several European countries. Those concerns intensified last week, undermining the euro, after Portugal’s lawmakers defeated the government over its deficit reduction plan.

The worries also boosted the value of the U.S. dollar, which in turn helped push commodity prices lower.

However, a surprise drop in the U.S. unemployment rate Friday tempered losses. Canadian employment data for January also came in better than expected, with the addition of 43,000 jobs _ although most of them were part-time.

The TSX ended the week up 1.16 per cent.

Despite a lack of commitment to a bailout from the European Union or any concrete rescue plans from policy makers at the G-7 meeting of finance ministers this weekend in Iqaluit, experts said countries like Greece or Portugal were unlikely to be stranded or allowed to default.

“A solution for Greece will be found, either from within the country or from the wider eurozone,” said Daragh Maher, analyst at Calyon.

“On a number of fronts the pessimism looks overdone, notably in relation to the performance of the global economy.”

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at a nearly two-month low, falling 1.1 per cent .

Chinese shares also dropped, but trading was listless, with investors keeping to the sidelines ahead of a weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, which begins Saturday. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.6 per cent.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.02 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.67 per cent while the Paris CAC 40 index was up 0.5 per cent.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	10,012.23	+10.05 or +0.10%	-3.99%
S&P 500	1,066.19	+3.08 or +0.29%	-4.39%
NASDAQ	2,141.12	+15.69 or +0.74%	-5.64%
TSX Composite	11,223.12	+94.36 or +0.85%	-4.45%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,951.82	-105.27 or -1.05%	-5.64
Hang Seng	19,550.89	-114.19 or -0.58%	-10.61
SENSEX	15,935.61	+19.96 or +0.13%	-8.76
FTSE 100	5,067.60	+6.68 or +0.13%	-6.38
CAC 40	3,584.05	+20.29 or +0.57%	-8.95
DAX	5,470.37	+36.03 or +0.66%	-8.18

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.17	103.17	3.35
Cdn. 30-year bond	116.67	116.75	3.99
U.S. 10-year bond	98.34	98.50	3.58
U.S. 30-year bond	97.67	97.76	4.52

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9337	0.9315
US $	1.0710	1.0735

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6844	0.6833
Euro	1.4611	1.4634

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,070.00	$1,052.25

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$71.55	+$0.36 or +0.51%

(02/8/10)