Market wrap: July 6, 2009

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

A selloff in commodity stocks sent the Toronto stock market tumbling Monday as pessimism deepened about a convincing economic recovery being in place by the end of the year.

The S&P/TSX composite closed down 255.67 points or 2.5% at 10,027.43 after tumbling as much as 356 points, extending losses triggered at the end of last week by a much worse than expected U.S. employment report. The energy sector was a leading loser, down 3.8%, as the August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange lost $2.68 to US$64.05.

It was the fourth straight day of lower crude prices and since the beginning of the month. Crude prices have fallen about 8% on the growing belief that the economy won’t be strong enough to lift demand as much as expected. Sector heavyweight EnCana Corp. lost $2.30 to $53.05 while Suncor Inc. gave back $2 to $30.85.

The Canadian dollar closed ahead 0.19 of a cent to 86.27 cents U.S.

The dismal performance on the TSX comes after the main index sustained a 1% decline last week. Indexes had been stalled for much of the past month as momentum behind the spring rally, which at one point sent the TSX up about 40% from March lows, started to fade.

Canada’s own unemployment numbers are to be released Friday. They are expected to show job losses of around 30,000 last month.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved 28.33 points lower to 1,064.63.

New York markets closed off early lows as a trade group’s measure of the health of the U.S. services sector contracted less than expected in June.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.13 points to 8,324.87 on top of a 2% slide last week. The Nasdaq composite index stepped back 9.12 points to 1,787.4 while the S&P 500 index was ahead 2.3 points to 898.72.

The Institute for Supply Management’s services index read 47 in June, up from 44 in May. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a reading of 45.5 last month.

It was the best showing since September when the index was at 50, the sawoff point between growth and contraction.

But the better-than-expected report wasn’t enough to assuage the growing doubts about the economy following the disappointing employment numbers and a weak consumer confidence reading.

"There is a sense that the fundamentals in the marketplace haven’t caught up with the technical rally that we got in March," said Dan Deming, a trader with Strutland Equities in Chicago. Elsewhere on the TSX, the base metals sector gave up per cent as the price of paladium and platinum fell almost 4% while copper stepped back about 3%.

The August bullion contract in New York moved down $6.70 to US$924.30 an ounce, taking the gold sector down 4%. Barrick Gold Corp. fell $1.42 to $38.29.

Non-commodity sectors also suffered with the financial group down 1.5%. Scotiabank declined 70 cents to $42.70.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	8,324.87	+44.13 or 0.53%	-5.14%
S&P 500	898.72	+2.30 or +0.26%	-0.50%
NASDAQ	1,787.40	-9.12 or -0.51%	+13.34%
TSX Composite	10,027.43	-255.67 or -2.49%	+11.57%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,680.87	-135.20 or -1.38%	+9.27%
Hang Seng	17,979.41	-223.99 or -1.23%	+24.97%
SENSEX	14,043.40	-869.65 or -5.83%	+45.57%
FTSE 100	4,194.91	-41.37 or -0.98%	-5.40%
CAC 40	3,082.16	-37.35or -1.20%	-4.22%
DAX	4,651.82	-56.39 or -1.20%	-3.29%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	103.58	103.38	3.32
Cdn. 30-year bond	119.54	119.74	3.85
U.S. 10-year bond	96.88	96.88	3.50
U.S. 30-year bond	98.34	98.78	4.35

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8628	0.8607
US $	1.1591	1.1619

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6173	0.6159
Euro	1.6200	1.6237

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$921.50	$924.50

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$64.19	-2.54 or -3.81%

(07/06/09)