A.M. market numbers: November 3, 2009

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

North American stock markets appeared set for a lower open Tuesday as doubts continue about whether the strength of an economic rebound can sustain the sharp run-up in stocks over most of the last eight months.

The Dow Jones futures fell 66 points to 9,669, the Nasdaq futures lost 9.5 points to 1,659.5 while the S&P futures declined 7.4 points 1,031,7.

The Canadian dollar drifted 0.08 of a cent lower to 92.7 cents US.

Oil prices turned lower after advancing strongly Monday on the strength of the latest readings on the U.S. manufacturing sector and housing resale data. The December crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down 59 cents to US$77.54 a barrel.

Other commodity prices were mixed. The December gold contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $7.80 to US$1,061.80 an ounce while December copper fell three cents to US$2.92 a pound.

The Toronto stock market sustained a slight 32-point loss Monday because of lower energy shares and a loss of almost 6% in Research In Motion Ltd. shares following a downgrade by a Citigroup analyst. But the TSX is down more than 5% over the last seven sessions.

Investor unease grew amid renewed concerns about the banking sector amid further efforts to restructure two of the U.K.’s largest banks. Lloyds said it was looking to raise about US$34 billion through a share issuance, while the Royal Bank of Scotland got a $41 billion infusion from the government.

And Swiss bank UBS AG reported a third-quarter loss of about $542 million, due to hefty accounting charges.

"Stocks are registering hefty losses as the market takes risk off the table in the wake of another run of bad news from the banking sector," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com in London.

That raises fears that major economies "will only be able to manage lacklustre growth going forward," Foley said.

There is also uncertainty about a raft of key economic developments later this week, which culminates in Friday’s closely watched U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for October. Statistics Canada also releases October employment data Friday.

And ahead of those announcements, the U.S. Federal Reserve is holding its scheduled meeting on interest rates and will issue a statement on rates and the economy Wednesday afternoon.

Futures moved lower despite major acquisition activity in the U.S. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway says it has agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe in a deal valuing the railroad at $34 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. already owns a stake of about 22% in Burlington Northern, and says it will pay $100 a share for the rest of the company. That is a 32% premium over Burlington’s closing price on Monday.

On the Canadian earnings front, Talisman Energy Inc. saw its profits plunge in the third quarter as falling commodity prices and lower production output took their toll on earnings. The company reported a net income of $30 million or three cents per share, a significant drop from a year-ago profit of $1.4 billion or $1.40 per share. Talisman revenue was $1.5 billion, down from $2.7 billion in the same period last year.

And the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking a second look at a proposed sale of MDS Analytical Technologies to Danaher Corp. Toronto-based MDS Inc. announced in September that it planned to sell its global subsidiary to Danaher for US$650 million. The sale of MDS Analytical was originally expected to close by the end of the year but now MDS expects a delay until the first quarter of 2010.

In overseas trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng led Asia’s losses, falling 1.8% while Japan’s market was closed for a holiday. China’s Shanghai index bucked the trend, gaining 1.2%.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.6%, Frankfurt’s DAX slid 1.37% while the Paris CAC 40 moved down 1.74%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	9,789.44	+76.71 or +0.79%	+11.54%
S&P 500	1,042.88	+6.69 or +0.65%	+15.46%
NASDAQ	2,049.20	+4.09 or +0.20%	+29.94%
TSX Composite	10,878.35	-32.40 or -0.30%	+20.85%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,802.95	Closed	+10.65%
Hang Seng	21,240.06	-380.13 or -1.76%	+47.63%
SENSEX	15,404.94	-491.34 or -3.09%	+59.68%
FTSE 100	5,017.28	-87.22 or -1.71%	+13.15%
CAC 40	3,575.96	-63.50 or -1.74%	+11.12%
DAX	5,356.54	-74.28 or -1.37%	+11.36%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.60	102.63	3.43
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.85	118.00	3.93
U.S. 10-year bond	101.84	101.69	3.40
U.S. 30-year bond	104.19	103.97	4.25

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9222	0.9357
US $	1.0843	1.0768

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6315	0.6263
Euro	1.5834	1.5968

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,058.00	$1,062.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$77.50	-$0.63 or -0.81%

(11/03/09)