AM market numbers: December 11, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market looked set for a positive open Friday with investor confidence getting a boost from a vastly improved reading of Chinese exports.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.13 of a cent to 95.3 cents US.

New York futures also headed higher on news that China’s November exports were down only 1.2% from a year earlier, the smallest decline this year, as budding recoveries in the U.S. and other big markets helped revive demand.

It was a dramatic improvement from October, when exports slid 13.8%, and even bigger declines in previous months.

The report followed Canadian and U.S. government data Thursday that showed a big jump in export activity as low interest rates and recovering economies raise demand for goods and services around the globe.

Strong growth in Chinese industrial output and retail sales for the month also underlined that the recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy is gathering momentum.

The Dow Jones futures were ahead 46 points to 10,448, the Nasdaq futures gained 7.5 points to 1,805.5 while the S&P 500 futures headed up 5.6 points to 1,102.8.

Investors are also hopeful that a report on U.S. retail sales will show Americans are opening up their wallets for the holiday season.

Economists are expecting retail sales to have risen 0.6% last month, slowing from a 1.4% increase in October.

Commodity prices also advanced in the wake of the Chinese data with the January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange ahead 45 cents to US$70.99 a barrel.

The February bullion contract on the Nymex rose $15.80 to US$1,142 an ounce while March copper gained four cents to US$3.15 a pound.

On the earnings front, sporting goods retailer Forzani Group Ltd. said it earned $11.4 million, or 37 cents per share, compared with a profit of $6.6 million, or 22 cents per share a year ago. Revenue totalled $381.1 million, up from $362.9 million, while same-store sales were up 2.3%. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were on average expecting Forzani to earn 27 cents per share during the third quarter.

Le Chateau Inc. reported Thursday a drop in third-quarter earnings compared with a year ago as sales fell 10%. The clothing retailer earned $5.6 million or 23 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Oct. 31 compared with a profit of $10 or 40 cents per share a year ago.

Elsewhere, Freewest Resources Canada Inc. is urging its shareholders once again not to tender their shares to a takeover bid from Noront Resources Ltd. set to expire Friday. Freewest has been trying to fend off Noront since early October and has recommended its shareholders instead vote in favour of a friendly bid from Cliffs Natural Resources.

Overseas, the Chinese data sent Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average up 2.5% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.9%.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 1.01%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 1.1% and the Paris CAC 40 advanced 1.84%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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	Open	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	10,405.83	+68.78 or +0.67%	+17.78%
S&P 500	1,102.35	+6.40 or +0.58%	+21.33%
NASDAQ	2,190.86	+7.13 or +0.33%	+38.47%
TSX Composite	11,464.57	+85.35 or +0.75%	+26.61%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,107.87	+245.05 or +2.48%	+14.09%
Hang Seng	21,902.11	+202.07 or +0.93%	+52.23%
SENSEX	17,119.03	-70.28 or -0.41%	+77.45%
FTSE 100	5,299.31	+54.94 or +1.05%	+19.51%
CAC 40	3,826.27	+27.89 or +0.73%	+18.90%
DAX	5,776.43	+67.41 or +1.18%	+20.09%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.28	103.63	3.34
Cdn. 30-year bond	116.90	117.60	3.98
U.S. 10-year bond	98.94	99.28	3.50
U.S. 30-year bond	97.94	98.88	4.50

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9522	0.9520
US $	1.0502	1.0504

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6456	0.6464
Euro	1.5489	1.5471

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,140.00	$1,125.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$70.95	+$0.41 or +0.58%

(12/11/09)