A.M. Market numbers: Wednesday, August 5, 2009

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

North American markets appeared headed for a flat open Wednesday as investors hesitate to make big bets ahead of key economic data, including Friday’s looming U.S. jobs report.

Overseas markets were mixed, with European indexes posting modest gains after earlier losses in Asia.

Bailed-out British bank Lloyds Banking Group PLC said most of its bad loans have been accounted for even as it reported a staggering US$5.3-billion loss for the first half of the year.

U.S. Investors are awaiting reports on factory orders and activity in the services sector on Wednesday for more clues on the state of the country’s economy.

An earnings report from Cisco Systems Inc., to be issued after the market closes, will also be closely watched. Traders consider the world’s largest maker of computer networking gear a gauge of the health of the technology sector.

The caution in the market follows a massive advance on the Toronto Stock Market and more muted gains on Wall Street.

The S&P/TSX composite index added 230.95 points or 2.14% to close at 11,018.10, ending the first day of trading in August on an upbeat note after gaining more than 4% throughout July. The surge marked the first time the index has closed above the 11,000-point mark since last October.

But the index, which tracks a selection of Canada’s most important publicly traded companies, remains more than 4,000 points or 37% below an all-time high of 15,154 set in June 2008.

In New York, markets ended the day slightly higher on news that American consumers boosted their spending by 0.4 % in June.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 33.63 points to 9,320.19 as investors put the brakes on a huge advance that sent stocks up 14% in just 16 days.

The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which moved above the 1,000 level for the first time since November on Monday, is up 48.6% off of 12-year lows hit in early March.

Though earnings and economic news continue to be fairly upbeat, investors are wary of taking the market too high too quickly and analysts have been expecting stocks to drift after such a big move.

Buying has eased as investors await the U.S. government’s monthly employment report on Friday, arguably the month’s most important piece of economic data. While investors anticipate the unemployment rate to creep as high as 10 % this year, there is concern that the labour market is not stabilizing.

Ahead of Wednesday’s market’s open, Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 1, or 0.01%, to 9,288. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures were up less than a point to 1,005.60, while Nasdaq 100 index futures are down 2.50, or 0.2%, to 1,627.75.

The Canadian dollar opened at 92.87 cents US, down 0.2 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

Light, sweet crude rose 17 cents to US$71.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In early afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.5%, Germany’s DAX index was up 0.3%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.8%.

Earlier Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed down 1.2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.5%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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Dow Jones	9,320.19	+33.63 or +0.36%	+6.20%
S&P 500	1,005.65	+3.02 or +0.30%	+11.34%
NASDAQ	2,011.31	+2.70 or 0.13%	+27.54%
TSX Composite	11,018.10	+230.95 or 2.14%	+22.59%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,252.53	-122.48 or -1.18%	+15.72%
Hang Seng	20,494.77	-301.66 or -1.45%	+42.45%
SENSEX	15,903.83	+72.85 or +0.46%	+64.85%
FTSE 100	4,692.22	+20.85 or +0.45%	+5.82%
CAC 40	3,505.31	+28.94 or +0.83%	+8.93%
DAX	5,451.54	+34.52 or +0.64%	+13.33%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.93	n/a	3.52
Cdn. 30-year bond	116.69	n/a	4.00
U.S. 10-year bond	95.50	n/a	3.68
U.S. 30-year bond	96.59	n/a	4.46

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9287	0.9315
US $	1.0767	1.0736

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6457	0.6468
Euro	1.5487	1.5460

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 964.50	$960.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$71.56	+$0.14 or +0.20%

(08/05/09)