A.M. market numbers: November 19, 2009

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

North American stock markets headed for a lower open Thursday amid a new wave of doubt about the strength of an economic rebound.

The Dow Jones industrial futures backed off 59 points to 10,435, the Nasdaq futures were down 13.8 points to 1,786.8 while the S&P 500 futures declined 8.4 points to 1,100.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.63 of a cent to 94.2 to cents US.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development increased its forecast for economic growth in 2010 in its 30 member countries, but cautioned any recovery will be slow and bumpy because of high unemployment. The Paris-based group said unemployment is not expected to peak until the end of 2010 or the beginning of 2011.

The financial and tech sectors were also in focus.

Concerns about the financial sector rose after Japan’s biggest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, said it plans to raise $11.2 billion to shore up its balance sheet.

In Canada, Manulife Financial Corp., the country’s largest insurance company, is raising $2.5 billion in a major stock issue aimed at restoring the Toronto insurer’s balance sheet and providing cash to reduce debt, fund operations and for possible takeovers. The company will issue about 132 million shares at $19 each. Its shares were up slightly in pre-market trading in New York.

The tech sector could be depressed after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded eight microchip companies, including Intel and Texas Instruments. The downgrade came amid worries that inventories are too high unless there’s a sharp economic upturn.

Resource stocks will be pressured by lower commodity prices as the December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost 63 cents to US$78.95 a barrel.

The December bullion contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $5.10 from Wednesday’s latest record close to US$1,136.10 an ounce while December copper was off one cent to US$3.10 a pound.

Stock markets ended weak Wednesday in the wake of a disappointing reading on U.S. housing starts during October.

Indexes have rallied strongly since March’s lows as investors reined in their economic doomsday expectations to factor in a swifter than anticipated global economic rebound, but recent disappointing U.S. housing figures and mixed earnings from some of the country’s leading retailers have dented some of the optimism. Many investors think stock valuations are now pricing in too rapid an economic recovery.

In other news, fertilizer company Agrium Inc. said that stockholders of CF Industries Holdings tendered 62% of outstanding CF shares into its takeover offer as of its expiration last night. The offer is valued at $5.1 billion.

In overseas trading, London’s FTSE 100 index was off 0.51%, Frankfurt’s DAX was down 0.64% while the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.77%.

Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 1.3% — its seventh straight day of decline as investors succumbed to jitters about a possible glut of new bank shares after Mitsubishi UFJ announced plans to raise capital. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.9%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,426.31	-11.11 or -0.11%	+18.80%
S&P 500	1,109.80	-0.52 or -0.05%	+22.87%
NASDAQ	2,193.14	-10.64 or -0.48%	+39.07%
TSX Composite	11,652.69	+22.69 or +0.20%	+29.65%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,549.47	-127.33 or -1.32%	+7.79%
Hang Seng	22,643.16	-197.17 or -0.86%	+57.38%
SENSEX	16,785.65	-213.13 or -1.25%	+73.99%
FTSE 100	5,308.89	-33.24 or -0.62%	+19.73%
CAC 40	3,792.80	-35.36 or -0.92%	+17.86%
DAX	5,740.76	-46.85 or -0.81%	+19.35%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.84	103.15	3.40
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.85	118.47	3.93
U.S. 10-year bond	100.22	100.25	3.35
U.S. 30-year bond	101.56	101.88	4.28

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9420	0.9553
US $	1.0616	1.0468

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6340	0.6388
Euro	1.5774	1.5654

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,136.00	$1,149.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$78.88	-$0.70 or -0.88%

(11/19/09)