American economic data sends stocks higher

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

A better than expected outlook on the American economy helped snap a four-day losing streak on the Toronto stock market, which remains substantially below where it was last week.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved 55.39 points higher to 10,121.5, led by rising financials and base metal stocks. The previous four days going back to last Friday had carved 648 points, or almost 6.5%, from the main index.

The market moved higher after the U.S. Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators, designed to forecast activity in the next three to six months, rose 1.2%. The report raised hopes that an economic recovery should be in place by the end of the year.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.18 of a cent to 88.24 cents US after the CPI report. Energy stocks were also supportive as the July crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained 34 cents to US$71.37.

U.S. markets were also mainly higher in the wake of the Conference Board data with the Dow Jones industrial average up 58.42 points to 8,555.6 after three days of losses. But the Nasdaq composite index dipped 0.34 of a point to 1,807.72.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,555.60	+58.42 or +0.69%	-3.18%
S&P 500	918.37	+7.66 or +0.84%	+0.83%
NASDAQ	1,807.72	-0.34 or -0.02%	+14.65%
TSX Composite	10,121.50	+55.39 or +0.55%	+12.00%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,703.72	-137.13 or -1.39%	+9.53%
Hang Seng	17,776.66	-307.94 or -1.70%	+23.56%
SENSEX	14,265.53	-257.31 or -1.77%	+47.87%
FTSE 100	4,280.86	+2.40 or +0.06%	-3.51%
CAC 40	3,194.06	+2.40 or +0.06%	-1.77%
DAX	4,837.48	+37.50 or +0.78%	-0.21%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.98	102.68	3.51
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.39	118.74	3.96
U.S. 10-year bond	94.28	95.42	3.82
U.S. 30-year bond	94.37	95.75	4.60

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8826	0.8842
US $	1.1333	1.1310

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6353	0.6337
Euro	1.5741	1.5781

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$936.75	$940.50

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$71.21	+$0.18 or +0.25%

(06/18/09)