Market numbers: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market looks set for a higher open with investors encouraged by a strong earnings report from chip giant Intel Corp. and rising oil prices.

The Toronto stock market has racked up two solid sessions this week, gaining about 240 points or 2.5%, led by financial stocks amid a strong earnings report from American financial giant Goldman Sachs Group.

The Canadian dollar continued on a tear, up 0.97 cent to 89 cents US after jumping 1.21 cents US on Tuesday.

New York futures indicated a strong open with the S&P 500 futures up 10.3 points to 911.7.

Dow futures rose 77 points to 8,381 while the Nasdaq futures climbed 26 points to 1,472.8 after Intel said it earned US$1 billion, or 18 cents per share, in the second quarter, excluding a US$1.45 billion antitrust fine from the European Union.

The fine gave the world’s biggest semiconductor company its first quarterly net loss since 1986. Analysts had expected a profit of eight cents per share.

Sales fell 15% to US$8.02 billion in the most recent quarter. Analysts had predicted US$7.28 billion.

Investors will now set their sights on three other major banks – JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. – reporting second-quarter results later in the week to see if the broader sector is actually recovering from the malaise that beset the sector late last year.

TSX energy stocks should benefit from a burst in oil prices ahead of weekly inventory data from the United States later in the morning.

The price of oil has fallen sharply since hitting an eight-month intraday high of US$73.38 June 30th on demand concerns. But a solid start to the U.S. second quarter earnings season has helped bolster prices and on Wednesday, the August crude contract in New York was up 98 cents to US$60.50 a barrel.

Traders will be eyeing a weekly inventory report from the Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration on Wednesday. Analysts expect the EIA’s gasoline inventory numbers to rise 750,000 barrels, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

In Canadian earnings news, Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX:CJR.B) said Wednesday a $175-million impairment charge pushed the company to a loss of $145 million for the third quarter, a result which fell short of analyst expectations. The loss reverses year-earlier profits of $37.7 million.

Quarterly revenue fell 6% to $195.4 million compared to $207.8 million booked the year before.

Corus released its financial results a day after announcing a $40 million purchase of two specialty channels from CTVglobemedia (TSX:BCE).

Elsewhere, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (TSX:RIM) vowed to keep innovating its products in the heavily competitive smartphone space and will push its iconic technology into areas such as health care, government and e-commerce. RIM told shareholders Tuesday that while applications such as music, games and screensavers are important, its plans are to leverage the technology into more "substantive” areas.

On the economic front, Canadian investors will receive data on May manufacturing shipments.

In the U.S., the Labour Department is expected to say consumer prices rose 0.6% in June after a 0.1% gain in May. The consumer price index, which measures the cost to consumers of buying goods, is a key measure of inflation.

A report on industrial production is likely to show that the output of U.S. factories, mines and utilities dropped 0.6% last month. That decline would be smaller than the 1.1% decline seen in May.Overseas, Asian stock markets rose for a second day Wednesday, underpinned by better-than-expected U.S. earnings and optimism the regional economy is on the mend.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rose 7.44 points, or 0.1%, to 9,269.25.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 372.93, or 2.1%, to 18,258.66.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 1.75%, Frankfurt’s DAX climbed 2% while the Paris CAC 40 gained 1.8%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,359.49	+27.81 or +0.33%	-4.75%
S&P 500	905.84	+4.79 or +0.53%	+0.29%
NASDAQ	1,799.73	+6.52 or +0.36%	+14.12%
TSX Composite	9,986.15	+94.22 or +0.95%	+11.11%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,269.25	+7.44 or +0.08%	+4.62%
Hang Seng	18,258.66	+372.93 or +2.09%	+26.91%
SENSEX	14,253.24	+399.54 or +2.88%	+47.74%
FTSE 100	4,310.37	+72.69 or +1.72%	-2.79%
CAC 40	3,138.05	+56.18 or +1.82%	-2.48%
DAX	4,870.93	+89.24 or +1.87%	+1.26%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.72	103.70	3.42
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.15	118.65	3.98
U.S. 10-year bond	97.22	98.09	3.46
U.S. 30-year bond	98.09	100.17	4.36

Currency

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BoC Open	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8900	0.8803
US $	1.1235	1.1360

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6310	0.6315
Euro	1.5847	1.5835

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 930.00	$924.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$60.38	+$0.86 or +1.44%

(07/15/09)