Market numbers: Friday, June 26, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market is likely in for a lower open following two solid triple-digit advances amid a profit warning from Potash Corp.

The Saskatoon-based company cut its earnings guidance Thursday due to lower than expected sales volumes as customers delay purchases and lower realized prices for phosphate fertilizers.

The company said it now expects to earn roughly 70 cents per diluted share for the quarter, down from an initial target of $1.10 to $1.50 per share.

The average analyst estimate according to Thomson Reuters was for earnings of 93 cents per share.

The Canadian dollar was up 0.59 of a cent to 87.08 cents US.

Rising commodity stocks helped push the TSX up 255 points on Thursday but momentum from the spring rally that started in early March has been slowing and the Toronto market is headed for a flat showing for the week.

As the second half of 2009 draws to a close, investors are growing more nervous about whether the economy can bounce back later this year.

U.S. stock futures moved lower ahead of data on personal spending and consumer sentiment. The market expects the Commerce Department to report a modest rise in May spending, and the University of Michigan to report that sentiment was unchanged in June.

The readings will arrive after a strong day on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average on Thursday rose nearly 173 points.

The advance was driven by better-than-expected financial results from Lennar Corp. and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.

But, like the TSX, New York markets are only a handful of points higher on the week.

Before the market’s open Friday, Dow futures were down 14 points to 8,400. Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures fell 1.8 points to 914.8, and Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 4.5 to 1,468.5.

The Toronto market’s energy sector could see further gains with the August crude contract in New York 12 cents higher to US$70.35 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the price of copper in New York added two cents to US$2.32 a pound while the August gold contract on the Nymex gained $6.80 to US$946.30 an ounce.

Asian stocks gained Friday in the wake of the sharp gains on North American markets

Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark added 64.51, or 0.7%, to 9,860.59, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 212.62, or 1.2%, to 18,487.65.

Despite the gains, some investors don’t expect the rally that began in March and started to taper off earlier this month to resume anytime soon.

“I think many investors are waiting for more confirmation that the macro economies are recovering,” said Winson Fong, managing director at SG Asset Management in Hong Kong, which oversees about $2 billion in equities in Asia.

“Without the fundamentals it’s hard to see us moving sharply in one direction or the other right now.”

London’s FTSE 100 index and the Frankfurt DAX were ahead 0.4% and the Paris CAC 40 was off 0.3%.

In other corporate news, Mosaid Technologies Inc. (TSX:MSD) reported Thursday an increase in fourth-quarter profits compared with a year ago as revenue grew 6%. The semiconductor company said it earned $5.6 million or 55 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30 compared with a profit of $5.4 million or 50 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Swiss bank UBS AG announced that it expects to raise 3.8 billion Swiss francs (US$3.5 billion) through a capital increase and forecasts a loss for the second quarter.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,472.40	+172.54 or +2.08%	-3.46%
S&P 500	920.26	+19.32 or +2.14%	+1.88%
NASDAQ	1,829.54	+37.20 or +2.08%	+16.01%
TSX Composite	10,355.85	+254.92 or +2.52%	+15.22%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,877.39	+81.31 or +0.83%	+11.49%
Hang Seng	18,600.26	+325.23 or +1.78%	+29.28%
SENSEX	14,764.64	+419.02 or +2.92%	+53.04%
FTSE 100	4,263.79	+11.22 or +0.26%	-3.84%
CAC 40	3,157.25	-5.85 or -0.18%	-1.89%
DAX	4,814.71	+14.15 or +0.29%	+0.09%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.81	102.51	3.41
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.59	118.59	3.90
U.S. 10-year bond	96.63	95.31	3.53
U.S. 30-year bond	98.77	96.97	4.32

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8708	0.8649
US $	1.1483	1.1562

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6181	0.6181
Euro	1.6178	1.6177

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$943.00	$937.25

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$70.49	+$0.26 or +0.37%

(06/26/09)