Declining oil prices may apply downward pressure on Toronto stock market

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

The Toronto Stock Market appears set to close a shortened trading week lower as oil prices continue to decline. Markets in the U.S. are closed for the Independence Day holiday.

Plunging oil prices and grim U.S. economic data pushed the S&P/TSX composite index to a triple-digit loss on Thursday.

The slide was partly driven by a US$2.58 dip in oil prices, which fell to $66.73. The decline continued at a more moderate pace Friday morning, with prices falling 22 cents to US$66.51.

The TSX closed down 129 points Thursday at 10,245.91.

Thursday marked a day of difficult trade in the U.S. as each of the three major U.S. indices slumped more than 2% in response to data that showed American employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June.

The reductions drove the U.S. unemployment rate up to a 26-year high of 9.5%, the highest level seen since 1983.

The unemployment rate is seen as a key barometer in the U.S. economic recovery and far exceeded the consensus expectation of 365,000 jobs lost.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 223.32 points to 8,280.74. The Nasdaq composite index gave up 49.20 points to close at 1,796.52 while the S&P 500 fell 26.91 points to 896.42.

ScotiaMcLeod adviser Andrew Pyle described the U.S. unemployment rate’s slow climb towards 10% as "death by a thousand cuts," but said the data wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

However, Pyle pointed out that the average work week fell by one-tenth of an hour to 33 hours, eliminating the equivalent of another 100,000 positions.

Ahead of Friday’s market open, the Canadian dollar opened at 86.32 cents US, up 0.28 of a cent from Thursday’s close. Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average fell 0.6%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up 0.1%. In mid-afternoon trade in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.1%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.1% and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.3%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,291.32	-212.74 or -2.50%	-5.53%
S&P 500	896.67	-26.66 or -2.89%	-0.73%
NASDAQ	1,796.52	-49.20 or -2.67%	+13.92%
TSX Composite	10,245.91	-129.00 or -1.24%	+14.00%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,816.07	-60.08 or -0.61%	+10.80%
Hang Seng	18,203.40	+25.35 or +0.14%	+26.52%
SENSEX	14,913.05	+254.56 or +1.74%	+54.58%
FTSE 100	4,244.03	+9.76 or +0.23%	-4.29%
CAC 40	3,113.80	-2.61 or -0.08%	-3.24%
DAX	4,700.50	-17.99 or -0.38%	-2.28%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.36	103.33	3.35
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.61	119.49	3.85
U.S. 10-year bond	96.94	96.75	3.49
U.S. 30-year bond	98.84	98.89	4.32

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8645	0.8604
US $	1.1567	1.1623

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6172	0.6147
Euro	1.6203	1.6267

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$932.50	$929.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$66.75	+$0.02 or +0.03%

(07/03/09)