A.M. market numbers: January 6, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market could be headed for a lower opening Wednesday amid lower oil prices while data showed the U.S. private sector shed fewer jobs than expected last month.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.11 of a cent to 96.36 cents US.

U.S. futures pointed to a weak open with the Dow Jones industrial futures down 20 points to 10,495, the Nasdaq futures declined four points to 1,881.2 while the S&P 500 futures were down 3.5 to 1,128.8.

Oil moved lower following two days of advances as traders await crude inventory figures from the U.S. later in the morning. The February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slipped 23 cents to US$81.54 a barrel.

The February gold contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $4 to US$1,122.70 an ounce while March copper added six cents to US$3.47 a pound.

Markets racked up major gains at the first of the week but activity has been sluggish since then.

Many analysts said investors were holding back while they wait for Friday’s U.S. Labour Department report on employment.

Ahead of that data, investors were relieved to see that the ADP National Employment Report on private companies showed that 84,000 private sector jobs were lost in December. That is better than the 90,000 job losses that had been expected.

It is also far better than the 169,000 jobs lost in November. Job losses were led by the construction sector, which shed 52,000 jobs.

The ADP report is often used as a forecast for the government’s report, which economists expect to say that the U.S. unemployment ticked up to 10.1% in December from 10% in November.

Also, the Institute for Supply Management will issue its U.S. non-manufacturing index for December. Economists forecast that the index hit 50.5 in December, up from 48.7 in November. A reading of 50 marks the dividing line between growth and contraction in the service sector, which includes more than 80% of U.S. economic activity.

The Federal Reserve will also release the minutes from its December meeting at mid-afternoon.

Overseas, Japanese stocks shrugged off speculation the country’s finance minister, one of the few experienced hands in the new government’s cabinet, will resign because of ill health. Hirohisa Fujii, 77, checked into hospital on December 28 for rest and health checks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 0.5%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6%.

London’s FTSE 100 index dipped 0.27%, Frankfurt’s DAX was off 0.12% while the Paris CAC 40 was flat.

In corporate news, Kraft Foods Inc. announced Wednesday that holders of 1.5% of shares in chocolate and gum maker Cadbury PLC have so far accepted its hostile takeover offer. But the U.S. conglomerate stands to gain support as the offer price moves closer to Cadbury’s market value. The gap narrowed on Tuesday as Swiss food company Nestle said it would not make an offer for Cadbury, Kraft offered more cash, and billionaire Warren Buffett, Kraft’s biggest shareholder, warned against offering any more stock to sweeten the offer.

Calian Technologies Ltd. said Tuesday it has been awarded a contract worth as much as $65 million to provide training support and administrative services to the Department of National Defence.

Calian sells technology services to industry and government in Canada and around the world, specifically in engineering, telecommunications and technology, health care and satellite services.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Open	Change	2009 Full Year
Dow Jones	10,572.02	-11.94 or -0.11%	+1.38%
S&P 500	1,136.52	+3.53 or +0.31%	+1.92%
NASDAQ	2,308.71	+0.29 or +0.01%	+1.74%
TSX Composite	11,888.08	+21.18 or +0.18%	+1.21%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,731.45	+49.62 or +0.46%	+1.75%
Hang Seng	22,416.67	+137.09 or +0.62%	+2.49%
SENSEX	17,701.13	+14.89 or +0.08%	+1.35%
FTSE 100	5,508.65	-13.85 or -0.25%	+1.77%
CAC 40	4,008.35	-4.56 or -0.11%	+1.83%
DAX	6,025.76	-6.10 or -0.10%	+1.15%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.56	101.23	3.55
Cdn. 30-year bond	115.20	114.85	4.07
U.S. 10-year bond	96.72	96.50	3.77
U.S. 30-year bond	95.88	95.63	4.63

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9638	0.9649
US $	1.0376	1.0364

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6710	0.6689
Euro	1.4903	1.4949

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,125.00	$1,123.25

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$81.51	-$0.26 or -0.32%

(01/06/10)