A.M. market numbers: November 30, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market headed for a slightly higher open Monday with investors hopeful the debt crisis in Dubai will be contained and encouraged by data showing Canadian economic growth in September following a string of declines.

Statistics Canada reports gross domestic product increased 0.1% in the third quarter, the first quarterly gain since the third quarter of 2008. Real GDP was up 0.4% in September following a 0.1% dip in August as most major industrial sectors increased their production.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.34 of a cent to 94.55 cents US following the report.

New York futures were higher going into the last day of November trading with the Dow Jones industrial futures ahead 20 points to 10,312. The Nasdaq futures rose 5.25 points to 1,764.5 while the S&P 500 futures were up 2.7 points to 1,092.2.

Markets ended last week on a down note after Dubai’s investment arm, Dubai World, said last week it now needed at least a six-month reprieve from paying some of its roughly US$60 billion debt.

The move raised fears that Dubai’s debt problems could lead to more financial instability and were a sign of hidden trouble elsewhere in a still fragile world economy.

In its first day of trade since last week’s bombshell, Dubai’s stock exchange dropped nearly 6% on Monday.

The United Arab Emirates central bank took steps to avert any run on banks by panicked depositors, pledging Sunday to offer additional money to foreign and domestic banks in the emirates amid concerns that UAE banks have some of the biggest exposure to Dubai World’s debts.

The promise of cheap funds signalled to global investors that the country’s federal government — backed by oil money — will do what it can to limit the fallout from the indebted Dubai emirate.

Oil prices were stable after losing almost US$2 Friday amid fears of another financial crisis with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange up six cents to US$76.11 a barrel.

The December bullion contract on the Nymex was off $2.70 to US$1,171.50 an ounce while December copper was up one cent at US$3.11 a pound.

Investors were also optimistic amid U.S. consumer behaviour at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season.

Preliminary figures by ShopperTrak, a U.S. research firm that tracks more than 50,000 outlets, showed sales rose 0.5% on Friday, the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Online sales jumped 11% Thursday and Friday, according to ComScore, an Internet research firm.

Retailers will provide further insight into the strength of the consumer on Thursday when they report key monthly sales figures for November.

In overseas trading, Asian stock markets rebounded Monday from their steep fall last week after the United Arab Emirates moved to contain the fallout from Dubai’s debt crisis. European markets were mainly lower.

Major Asian markets jumped about 3% or more after tumbling on Friday as a number of analysts said Dubai’s woes were unlikely to create a global contagion even if some of its creditors got stuck with losses. Exposure to Dubai is believed to be greatest among European banks and fairly insignificant among most Asian companies.

"Definitely the market overreacted," said Mixo Das, an Asia analyst at Nomura International in Hong Kong. "That sort of sell-off was definitely not called for."

Nearly every market traded higher in Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average climbing 2.9%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 3.3% and South Korea’s Kospi added 2%.

London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.47%, Frankfurt’s DAX moved down 0.62% and the Paris CAC 40 declined 0.56%.

In corporate news, a senior government official is warning that Ottawa could to table back-to-work legislation Monday to end the CN Rail strike if the two sides haven’t reached an agreement. A senior government official, who declined to be named, said the strike "could basically jeopardize the progress we’ve made on the economy and inflict significant damage to the Canadian economy during the busy Christmas season."

Com Dev International Ltd. shares will be under pressure after the designer and manufacturer of space hardware subsystems used on satellites and ground stations said results for August-October quarter were disappointing. The company reported a $4.3-million shortfall in both revenue and net income due to two domestic government programs.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,309.92	-154.48 or -1.48%	+17.47%
S&P 500	1,087.05	-23.58 or -2.12%	+20.35%
NASDAQ	2,138.44	-37.61 or -1.73%	+35.60%
TSX Composite	11,464.41	+27.61 or +0.24%	+27.56%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,345.55	+264.03 or +2.91%	+5.49%
Hang Seng	21,821.50	+687.00 or +3.25%	+51.67%
SENSEX	16,926.22	+294.21 or +1.77%	+75.45%
FTSE 100	5,205.91	-39.82 or -0.76%	+17.40%
CAC 40	3,689.55	-31.90 or -0.86%	+14.65%
DAX	5,633.34	-52.27 or -0.92%	+17.11%

Bonds

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Bonds	$ Current	$ Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	104.38	104.50	3.21
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.82	120.12	3.83
U.S. 10-year bond	101.22	101.52	3.23
U.S. 30-year bond	102.50	103.00	4.23

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9462	0.9341
US $	1.0568	1.0705

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6292	0.6260
Euro	1.5894	1.5975

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,172.00	$1,182.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$75.99	-$0.06 or -0.08%

(11/30/09)