Market numbers: Thursday, July 16, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market appeared heading for a weak opening following three solid days of gains amid falling oil prices and a disappointing earnings report from Canadian energy company Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY)

The Toronto stock market is up 468 points or 4.8% this week as solid earnings reports from Goldman Sachs Group and chip giant Intel Corp. encouraged hopes that an economic recovery should in place later in the year.

The good earnings news continued Thursday morning as JPMorgan Chase also topped expectations, reporting earnings of US$$2.72 billion, or 28 cents per share, up from US$2 billion, or 53 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts forecast earnings of four cents per share for the quarter. It also generated record revenue, spurred on by strong investment banking operations.

But that news was tempered by caution as small and midsize U.S. business lender CIT Group Inc. said negotiations with regulators about a possible rescue broke off after days of talks. That raised expectations that the New York-based financial firm could file for bankruptcy protection.

New York futures indicated a mixed start to the trading day with the S&P 500 index futures up 4.2 points to 931.4, the Dow Jones industrial futures gained 50 points to 8,593 while the Nasdaq futures slipped two points to 1,495.25.

Investors were encouraged by figures showing that new jobless claims fell to 522,000 last week, mostly due seasonal adjustments from auto layoffs. Economists had expected 555,000 claims.

In Canada, Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY) said lower commodity prices caused a plunge in both revenues and profits for the second quarter.

Nexen is reporting net income of $20 million or four cents per share for the quarter, down sharply from profits of $380 million or 72 cents per share recorded in the same quarter last year.

Revenue came in at $1.2 billion, down from $2.07 billion a year ago. Nexen says the results were impacted by tumbling oil prices, which are more than 50% lower than they were this time last year.

The Toronto energy sector could be in for a negative showing as the August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 51 cents to US$61.03 a barrel.

The Canadian dollar took a break after three days of advances that sent the currency up 3.88 cents US, reflecting the bullish tone on stock markets this week and weakness in the U.S. dollar. The loonie moved down a quarter of a cent to 89.49 cents US.

The August bullion contract moved down $1.10 to US$938.30 an ounce while September copper in New York was unchanged at US$2.392 a pound.

In other earnings news, the worlds top cell phone maker, Nokia Corp., reported that earnings fell 66% in the second quarter as the global recession sapped demand for handsets. Net profit was euro380 million (US$535 million), down from euro1.1 billion in the same period a year earlier. Sales tumbled 25% to euro9.91 billion.

Overseas, the strong series of U.S. earnings news and growing economic growth in China took Asian stocks higher. China reported its economy expanded by 7.9% in the second quarter amid a surge in consumer spending and factory output on the back of massive government stimulus measures. Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average gained 74.91 points, or 0.8%, to 9344.16 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng was up 103.21, or 0.6%, at 18,361.87.

London’s FTSE 100 index inched up 0.11%, Frankfurt’s DAX moved up 0.54% while the Paris CAC 40 moved ahead 1.1%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,616.21	+256.72 or +3.07%	-1.83%
S&P 500	932.68	+26.84 or +2.96%	+3.26%
NASDAQ	1,862.90	+63.17 or +3.51%	+18.13%
TSX Composite	10,215.46	+229.31 or +2.30%	+13.66%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,344.16	+74.91 or +0.81%	+5.47%
Hang Seng	18,361.87	+103.21 or +0.57%	+27.62%
SENSEX	14,250.25	-2.99 or -0.02%	+47.71%
FTSE 100	4,372.19	+25.73 or +0.59%	-1.40%
CAC 40	3,217.16	+45.89 or +1.45%	-0.03%
DAX	4,982.78	+54.34 or +1.10%	+3.59%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.00	102.72	3.51
Cdn. 30-year bond	116.10	117.15	4.03
U.S. 10-year bond	95.87	97.22	3.60
U.S. 30-year bond	95.75	98.09	4.49

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8949	0.8974
US $	1.1174	1.1143

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6333	0.6361
Euro	1.5789	1.5720

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 935.25	$938.00

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$60.93	-$0.61 or -0.99%

(07/16/09)