Falling commodities push TSX lower

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

The Toronto stock market closed lower for a third session Tuesday, led by another slide in commodity stocks as oil and metal prices fell back on a lack of conviction about the strength of an economic revival.

The S&P/TSX composite index, up more than 150 points during the morning, fell 87.38 points to 10,307.4 as investors continue to wonder if a sharp runup in prices since early March was justified.

The negative performance comes at a time when the main Toronto index is up almost 40% since the spring rally started March 9, amid hopes that an economic upturn will be in place by the end of the year.

But some analysts think investors are quite right to be cautious at this stage.

The TSX energy sector was down 2.4%.

The July crude contract in New York finished the session down 15 cents at US$70.47 a barrel after going as high as US$72.77 in early morning trading.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.17 of a cent to 88.14 cents US.

New York markets also added to Monday’s steep losses amid mixed economic data.

The Dow Jones industrial average moved 107.46 points lower to 8,504.67 on top of Monday’s 187-point slide.

The Nasdaq composite index stepped back 20.2 points to 1,796.18 while the S&P 500 index slipped 11.75 points to 911.97 as the Commerce Department reported that construction of homes and apartments jumped a better than expected 17.2% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 532,000 units.

But other data showed that U.S. industrial production tumbled by a more than expected 1.1% during May as the recession crimped demand for a wide range of manufactured goods including cars, machinery and household appliances. Production has declined for seven straight months.

Investors were also discouraged with earnings news from Best Buy Co., the biggest consumer electronics retailer in the United States. It said Tuesday its first-quarter profit fell 15% even as its biggest competitor exited the market. Best Buy beat earnings estimates but its shares fell $2.82 to US$35.84.

But the gold sector rose 1.75% with the August bullion contract in New York ahead $4.70 to US$932.20 an ounce.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,504.67	-107.46 or -1.25%	-3.10%
S&P 500	911.97	-11.75 or -1.27%	+0.97%
NASDAQ	1,796.18	-20.20 or -1.11%	+13.90%
TSX Composite	10,307.40	-87.38 or -0.84%	+14.68%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,752.88	-286.79 or -2.86%	+10.08%
Hang Seng	18,165.50	-333.46 or -1.80%	+26.26%
SENSEX	14,957.91	+82.39 or +0.55%	+55.05%
FTSE 100	4,328.57	+2.56 or +0.06%	-2.38%
CAC 40	3,213.95	-5.63 or -0.17%	-0.12%
DAX	4,890.72	+0.78 or +0.02%	+1.67%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.63	102.03	3.44
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.81	117.89	3.89
U.S. 10-year bond	95.69	95.03	3.65
U.S. 30-year bond	96.47	94.67	4.46

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8814	0.8831
US $	1.1346	1.1324

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6369	0.6402
Euro	1.5701	1.5621

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$936.75	$934.00

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$70.52	-$1.00 or -0.14%

(06/16/09)