A.M. market numbers: November 20, 2009

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

North American stock markets looked set for another day of declines Friday as the U.S. dollar strengthened, commodities fell and investors looked over a disappointing earnings report from computer maker Dell Inc.

In New York, the Dow Jones futures declined 69 points to 10,258, the Nasdaq futures were down 10.2 points to 1,760 while the S&P 500 futures retreated 8.3 points to 1,086.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.56 of a cent to 93.47 cents US after Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney hinted Thursday that the central bank’s latest forecast for 2% real gross domestic product growth for the third quarter is at risk.

"Recent indicators suggest somewhat softer growth relative to that 2% projection," he told the Foreign Policy Association in New York.

"But the expectation is that the overall profile of the growth in that projection –so accelerating growth in the fourth quarter and into 2010 for Canada — remains valid."

Dell Inc. said Thursday that its net income dropped 54% to US$337 million in the latest quarter amid signs the company isn’t fully benefiting from the computer industry’s fledgling recovery.

Dell’s numbers missed Wall Street’s forecasts, and the shares fell almost 6% in extended trading. It also said that it is seeing improvement in some areas, but repeated its earlier prediction that a meaningful rebound in technology spending by businesses won’t come until next year. Its stock was down almost 8% in pre-market trading.

Toronto energy stocks will likely be under selling pressure as oil retreated for a second day. The December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 96 cents to US$76.50 a barrel.

Metal prices also moved lower as the December bullion contract on the Nymex declined $5 from Thursday’s most recent record close to US$1,136.90 an ounce.

December copper pulled back one cent to US$3.07 a pound.

Stock markets finished negative Thursday in the wake of new concerns about the pace of an economic rebound, an analyst downgrade of the tech sector and fresh evidence that the housing market is still fragile.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said more than 14% of homeowners with a mortgage were behind in their payments or facing foreclosure at the end of September.

Overseas markets were also lower with London’s FTSE 100 index down 0.64%, Frankfurt’s DAX fell 0.77% while the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.8%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average lost 0.5% even though the Bank of Japan revised up its forecasts for the world’s second largest economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off 0.8%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,332.44	-93.87 or -0.90%	+17.73%
S&P 500	1,094.90	-14.90 or -1.34%	+21.22%
NASDAQ	2,156.82	-36.32 or -1.66%	+36.76%
TSX Composite	11,600.30	-52.39 or -0.45%	+29.07%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,497.68	-51.79 or -0.54%	+7.20%
Hang Seng	22,455.84	-187.32 or -0.83%	+56.08%
SENSEX	17,021.85	+236.20 or +1.41%	+76.44%
FTSE 100	5,234.58	-33.12 or -0.63%	+18.05%
CAC 40	3,730.30	-29.92 or -0.80%	+15.92%
DAX	5,657.60	-44.58 or -0.78%	+17.62%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.03	102.84	3.38
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.18	117.85	3.91
U.S. 10-year bond	100.50	100.22	3.32
U.S. 30-year bond	101.75	101.56	4.27

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9347	0.9420
US $	1.0699	1.0616

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6301	0.6340
Euro	1.5870	1.5774

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,142.50	$1,135.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$76.65	-$0.81 or -1.05%

(11/20/09)