A.M. market numbers: January 4, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market looks set to kick off 2010 trading on a positive note as commodity prices rose and investors took in encouraging economic data from Europe and China.

The Canadian dollar jumped 1.09 cents to 96.24 cents US as reports showing pickups in manufacturing activity pushed the American currency lower.

New York futures also pointed to a higher open as the Dow Jones industrial futures rose 60 points to 10,425, the Nasdaq futures gained 21.75 points to 1,880.5 while the S&P 500 futures advanced 6.8 points to 1,117.5.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index — a key gauge of activity — for the 16 countries that use the euro rose to a 21-month high of 51.6, while the equivalent survey for Britain rose to a 25-month high of 54.1.

A figure above 50 indicates expansion, and the bigger the difference the faster the expansion.

And other data showed China’s manufacturing sector expanded at its fastest rate in 20 months in December.

In the U.S., investors will receive key data throughout the week that could show the economic recovery is continuing, including a report on manufacturing Monday.

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index is expected to show modest growth in the sector last month. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, forecast the ISM’s index for December will increase to 54 from 53.6 a month earlier. The report is due out at 10 a.m. EST.

But most attention will centre on Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for December and many in the markets expect the first job creation in two years.

The economic reports follow an impressive end to the 2009 trading year that saw the main Toronto index rise 31% — its best one year gain since 1979. The Dow Jones industrials ran ahead 19%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 44% and the S&P 500 index jumped 23% as investors hope a solid economic recovery is taking place.

Energy stocks will be supportive on the TSX as the weak greenback helped push the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange $1.50 higher to US$80.86 a barrel.

The February gold contract on the Nymex moved ahead $19.20 to US$1,115.40 while the March copper contract gained six cents to US$3.41.

In corporate news, Swiss drug maker Novartis AG said Monday it plans to take over Alcon Inc. by paying US$38.5 billion for the 77% stake it does not already own. The deal would make it one of the biggest players in the global market for eye-care products. Novartis will purchase Nestle SA’s 52% stake for US$28 billion, or US$180 per share, before carrying out a merger with Alcon that would give it control of the remaining 23% held by minority shareholders.

Petrominerales Ltd. says its Candelilla-1 well in Colombia has begun production, but output has been restricted temporarily due to transportation limitations.

The company, which is 67% owned by Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., said the well began production at 11,500 barrels of oil per day.

Iamgold Corp. says that Joseph Conway, its long-time president and chief executive officer, will be leaving the company effective Jan. 15. Peter C. Jones, a director of the company, will be acting CEO on interim basis.

Mosaid Technologies Inc., an Ottawa-based company that controls patents to numerous memory and communications technologies, says it has entered a into an 19-day standstill agreement with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., one of the world’s largest electronics companies.

Mosaid says the two companies have reached a new technology licencing deal but the standstill agreement is needed to bridge the gap between now an a forma approval by their boards.

In Asia, the positive mood was soured somewhat by worries about another recession in Singapore after the government said the local economy shrank last quarter for the first time since early 2009.

"We’ll still see improvements in Asia in 2010, but a strong rebound isn’t certain everywhere in the region because global demand may not pick up quickly," said Belle Liang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International in Hong Kong.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 stock average advanced 1%. Other markets slipped, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng off 0.2% and Shanghai’s index down 1%.

London’s FTSE 100 index was ahead 0.72%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.68% while the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.1%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Open	Change	2009 Full Year
Dow Jones	10,428.05	-120.46 or -1.14%	+18.82%
S&P 500	1,115.10	-11.32 or -1.00%	+23.45%
NASDAQ	2,269.15	-22.13 or -0.97%	+43.89%
TSX Composite	11,746.11	+28.65 or +0.24%	+30.69%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,654.79	+108.35 or +1.03%	+1.03%
Hang Seng	21,823.28	-49.22 or -0.23%	-0.23%
SENSEX	17,558.73	+93.92 or +0.54%	+0.54%
FTSE 100	5,451.23	+38.35 or +0.71%	+0.71%
CAC 40	3,979.87	+43.54 or +1.11%	+1.11%
DAX	5,995.94	+38.51 or +0.65%	+0.65%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.10	101.21	3.61
Cdn. 30-year bond	115.23	115.35	4.07
U.S. 10-year bond	96.06	96.47	3.86
U.S. 30-year bond	95.14	96.00	4.68

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9635	0.9536
US $	1.0379	1.0487

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6684	0.6607
Euro	1.4961	1.5135

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,113.00	$1,104.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$80.89	+$1.53 or +1.93%

(01/04/10)