A.M. market numbers: November 10, 2009

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

North American markets headed for a lower opening Tuesday after a slide in the U.S. dollar helped power stock indexes, commodity prices and the Canadian dollar sharply higher on Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial futures slid 29 points to 10,162, the Nasdaq futures moved down 4.25 points to 1,762.25 while the S&P 500 futures declined 2.7 points to 1,089.

The Canadian dollar was off a slight 0.01 of a cent to 94.56 cents US after charging ahead 1.57 cents on Monday.

The energy sector will likely back off following Monday’s strong advance as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 18 cents to US$79.25 a barrel after jumping US$2. The boost in price was also driven by worries that Hurricane Ida could damage Gulf of Mexico energy facilities. But Ida has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, easing concern it could disrupt supply when it reaches land later Tuesday.

Other commodity prices were lower Tuesday morning with the December gold contract on the Nymex down $2.70 from Monday’s latest record close to US$1,098.70 an ounce while December copper was three cents lower at US$2.94 a pound.

The main TSX index and the Dow industrials both surged more than 200 points Monday on growing conviction that tepid economic conditions mean that interest rates will stay low. And a weekend meeting of G20 countries reassured investors that governments will leave stimulus measures in place for some time to come.

"This attitude soothes any lingering fears over activity and should allow for another leg higher in equity markets," said Stuart Bennett, an analyst at Calyon Credit Agricole in London.

Some analysts, though, are warning that a rally over the last six sessions, which has taken the TSX within 100 points of its best performance for the year and New York indexes to new highs for 2009, is unwarranted given the still-uncertain economy.

Attention this week turns towards the U.S. consumer with many leading retailers, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Macy’s Inc. and JC Penney Inc. reporting third quarter earnings. Without the help of the consumer, which accounts for around for 70% of the U.S. economy, any global economic recovery will be modest.

In Canadian earnings news, ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. says its quarterly net income from continuing operations fell by half to $6 million as the company continued to feel the impact of lower spending by its customers. That’s down from $12.7 million a year ago.

Quarterly revenue at ATS dropped to $148.2 million from $219.5 million. Both revenue and earnings beat expectations.

Premium Brands Holdings Corp. recorded net income of $6.9 million or 39 cents per share for the third quarter, down from year-ago profit of $7.4 million or 42 cents per share. Quarterly revenue totalled $123.40 million, compared to $123.44 million last year.

Silver Wheaton Corp. said Monday that it earned $33.6 million in its latest quarter, up from $20.2 million a year ago .The silver company said the profit amounted to 11 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of eight cents per diluted share a year ago.

Pengrowth Energy Trust said Monday that it earned $78.3 million in its most recent quarter, down from $422.4 million a year ago, as energy prices fell. The energy trust said the profit amounted to 30 cents per unit for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $1.69 a year ago.

Asian stocks rose further Tuesday as expectations of low borrowing costs continued to boost the appeal of equity markets over other investments.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average added 0.6% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.3%.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.19% as the Fitch ratings agency warned that Britain was the major economy most at risk of losing its triple A debt rating.

"Today’s Fitch report is a timely reminder that an economy which has run into trouble with too much debt and too much consumption cannot be pulled out of the crisis by putting in more debt to create even more consumption," said Hans Redeker, an analyst at BNP Paribas.

Frankfurt’s DAX drifted 0.13% higher as investors took in a leading survey which showed that German investor confidence fell in November from the previous month, reflecting doubts about the sustainability of economic recovery.

The ZEW survey, which tracks views of Europe’s largest economy, dropped 4.9 points and now stands at 51.1. The Paris CAC 40 was flat.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	10,226.94	+203.52 or +2.03%	+16.53%
S&P 500	1,093.08	+23.78 or +2.22%	+21.02%
NASDAQ	2,154.06	+41.62 or +1.97%	+36.59%
TSX Composite	11,486.88	+236.46 or +2.10%	+27.81%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,870.73	+61.74 or +0.63%	+11.41%
Hang Seng	22,268.16	+60.61 or +0.27%	+54.77%
SENSEX	16,440.56	-58.16 or -0.35%	+70.42%
FTSE 100	5,242.13	+6.95 or +0.13%	+18.22%
CAC 40	3,784.29	-1.20 or -0.03%	+17.60%
DAX	5,627.15	+7.43 or +0.13%	+16.98%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.08	101.86	3.49
Cdn. 30-year bond	116.45	116.10	4.01
U.S. 10-year bond	101.44	100.84	3.45
U.S. 30-year bond	102.34	101.30	4.36

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9456	0.9405
US $	1.0575	1.0632

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6309	0.6280
Euro	1.5849	1.5925

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,099.75	$1,108.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$79.34	-$0.09 or -0.11%

(11/10/09)