A.M. Market numbers: Thursday, July 30, 2009

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

North American markets appeared headed for a slightly higher open Thursday as investors looked to restart a two-week rally that stalled in recent days on mixed economic and earnings reports.

Investors are following overseas markets, which are rising because of upbeat profit reports.

Japanese shares rose to nearly 10-month highs on better-than-expected earnings at automakers Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.

European markets were buoyed by better-than-expected results at British telecommunications company BT Group PLC and its French peer Alcatel-Lucent SA as well as the drug maker AstraZeneca PLC.

Canadian investors will be digesting earnings reports from corporate heavyweights such as Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX), Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP).

Barrick and Canadian Pacific both reported modest increases in second quarter profits, but Petro-Canada said comparatively low oil prices depleted its bottom line by 95%.

In the U.S., investors will again be focusing on a spate of earnings reports looking for insight into potential recovery in the economy. Markets rallied for two weeks with major indexes gaining more than 11% due to upbeat earnings reports and corporate outlooks, before stalling earlier this week.

Motorola Inc. surprised analysts, reporting a profit when it was expected to post a small quarterly loss.

Travelers Cos. reported a 21% drop in profit, which fell short of analysts’ expectations. However, the commercial and personal property insurer increased its full-year operating earnings outlook.

Major companies such as ExxonMobil Corp., MasterCard Inc., MetLife Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are also scheduled to report earnings on Thursday.

In Wednesday’s trade, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index moved back 115.21 points to close at 10,455.33, making it the second consecutive session of triple-digit losses for the TSX. The main index fell 187 points on Tuesday.

The pullback suggested investors aren’t convinced that the economy won’t experience more turbulence in the short term.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials were down 26 points to 9,070.72.

Ahead of Thursday’s market open, Dow futures rose 57, or 0.6%, to 9,104. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures gained 6.80, or 0.7%, to 981.70, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 11.25, or 0.7%, to 1,612.00.

The Canadian dollar opened at 92.14 cents US, up 0.46 of a cent from Wednesday’s close.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery was up 92 cents to US$64.27 a barrel by early afternoon European time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index both advanced 0.5%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 1.3%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.6%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.1%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	9,070.72	-26.00 or -0.29%	+3.35%
S&P 500	975.15	-4.47 or -0.46%	+7.96%
NASDAQ	1,967.76	-7.75 or -0.39%	+24.78%
TSX Composite	10,455.33	-115.21 or -1.09%	+16.33%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,165.21	+51.97 or +0.51%	+14.74%
Hang Seng	20,234.08	+98.58 or +0.49%	+40.64%
SENSEX	15,387.96	+214.50 or +1.41%	+59.51%
FTSE 100	4,601.04	+53.51 or +1.18%	+3.76%
CAC 40	3,400.35	+34.73 or +1.03%	+5.67%
DAX	5,298.99	+28.67 or +0.54%	+10.16%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.76	101.65	3.54
Cdn. 30-year bond	115.84	115.89	4.05
U.S. 10-year bond	95.39	95.63	3.69
U.S. 30-year bond	95.39	95.69	4.53

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9214	0.9200
US $	1.0853	1.0869

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6556	0.6522
Euro	1.5254	1.5333

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$932.00	$931.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$64.05	+$0.70 or +1.10%

(07/30/09)