Market Numbers: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market moved sharply higher for a third session after a much better than expected earnings report and outlook from Intel Corp. raised hopes for an economic recovery.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index moved up 229.31 points or 2.3% to 10,215.46 with leadership equally split between energy and financial stocks, but all sectors were in the green except for health care.

The market had already gained about 2.5%, over the last two days, led by financial stocks amid a strong earnings report from American financial giant Goldman Sachs Group.

There was more good earnings news after the market closed Tuesday when Intel Corp. said it earned US$1 billion, or 18 cents per share, in the second quarter, excluding a $1.45-billion antitrust fine from the European Union.

Intel also offered a third-quarter sales outlook of US$8.5 billion, plus or minus US$400 million, which is significantly better than the US$7.8 billion average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. The data signalled that consumer sales – one indicator of the health of consumer spending – are picking up faster than expected and its shares moved $1.22 higher to US$18.05.

The sharp gains in Toronto over three sessions almost wiped out last week’s five per cent loss that was sparked by investor pessimism about the chances of a recovery this year.

The Canadian dollar continued to rise even as Statistics Canada reported manufacturing sales tumbled six per cent to $38.4 billion in May, the lowest level since November 1998. That was much steeper than the 0.8% decline that economists had expected.

But U.S. dollar weakness helped sent the currency ahead 1.71 cents to 89.74 cents US after jumping 2.17 cents US over the past two days.

New York markets were also sharply higher following the Intel report, with the Dow Jones industrial average ahead 256.72 points to 8,616.21. The Nasdaq composite index surged 63.17 points to 1,862.9 while the S&P 500 index gained 26.84 points to 932.68.

There was also some positive news from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which said it expects the American economy this year will shrink between one and 1.5% this year, slower than it previously predicted, but that unemployment will top 10%.

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 benefited from higher oil prices as traders hope the bright start to the earnings season will boost demand.

The price of oil has fallen sharply since hitting an eight-month intraday high of US$73.38 June 30 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 $2.02 to US$61.54 a barrel.

The gold sector was up 2.4% as the August bullion contract on the Nymex rose $16.60 to US$939.40.

(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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	Close	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	4,346.46	+108.78 or +2.57%	-1.98%
CAC 40	3,171.27	+89.40 or +2.90%	-1.45%
DAX	4,928.44	+146.75 or +3.07%	+2.46%

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 Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8974	0.8803
US $	1.1143	1.1360

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6361	0.6315
Euro	1.5720	1.5835

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$930.00	$938.00

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$61.87	+$2.35 or +3.95%

(07/15/09)