A.M. market numbers: November 17, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market looked set for a lower open Tuesday following big gains in the previous session amid a higher U.S. dollar and lower prices for oil and gold.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.96 of a cent to 94.54 cents US.

New York futures also signalled a tepid start to the trading day with the Dow Jones industrial futures down 25 points to 10,343, the Nasdaq futures were off 6.5 points to 1,797.25 while the S&P 500 figures were down 2.5 points to 1,103.8.

Commodity stocks could be in for some retracement as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange declined 47 cents to US$78.43 a barrel.

The December gold contract on the Nymex backed off $8.60 from Monday’s latest record close to US$1,130.60 an ounce. December copper in New York eased two cents to US$3.08 a pound after running up 13 cents on Monday as the U.S. dollar weakened and traders took in data showing strong economic growth in Japan in the third quarter.

A better than expected showing for October retail sales helped send stock markets sharply higher on Monday.

And on Tuesday, investors will examine earnings from large retailers, looking for signs of strength in consumers.

Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of all economic activity in the United States, and a return of shoppers is considered necessary for a strong economic recovery.

Home Depot Inc. said earnings and sales fell during the most recent quarter, but beat analysts’ expectations. The largest home improvement retailer in the U.S. also said it is seeing signs of stabilization in the housing market, which has been hammered in recent years. Its shares were down 1.66% in pre-market trading.

In Canada, Loblaw Companies Limited reported quarterly net income of $189 million or 69 cents per share, up from year-ago profit of $157 million or 57 cents per share. The grocer also said that revenues totalled $9.47 billion for the quarter, down slightly from $9.49 billion last year.

On the economic calendar, traders are awaiting a report on U.S. industrial production for glimpses of recovery in the manufacturing sector.

American inflation data is also due out Tuesday. The U.S. Labour Department’s Producer Price Index, which measures inflation at the wholesale level, is expected to increase 0.5% in October because of rising energy prices. Excluding volatile energy and food prices, the index likely rose just 0.1%.

Overseas, London’s FTSE 100 index moved down 0.59%, Frankfurt’s DAX drifted 0.36% lower while the Paris CAC 40 was down 0.51%.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.6% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell by 0.1%.

In other corporate news, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group said Monday it has signed a deal with U.S. hedge fund Paloma Securities to acquire the company’s global securities lending business. Financial details weren’t disclosed.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,406.96	+136.49 or +1.33%	+17.02%
S&P 500	1,109.30	+15.82 or +1.45%	+21.06%
NASDAQ	2,197.85	+29.97 or +1.38%	+37.47%
TSX Composite	11,512.26	+104.58 or +0.92%	+26.93%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,729.93	-61.25 or -0.63%	+9.82%
Hang Seng	22,914.15	-29.83 or -0.13%	+59.36%
SENSEX	17,050.65	+18.14 or +0.11%	+76.74%
FTSE 100	5,349.33	-33.34 or -0.62%	+20.64%
CAC 40	3,844.87	-18.29 or -0.47%	+19.48%
DAX	5,783.44	-21.38 or -0.37%	+20.23%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.93	102.26	3.39
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.12	116.95	3.92
U.S. 10-year bond	100.14	99.81	3.36
U.S. 30-year bond	101.50	100.97	4.28

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9454	0.9576
US $	1.0578	1.0442

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6360	0.6391
Euro	1.5724	1.5646

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,131.75	$1,130.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$78.52	-$0.38 or -0.48%

(11/17/09)