P.M. market numbers: August 11, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market tumbled as investors took profits from the five-month-old rally following a warning about the financial sector’s health and ahead of Wednesday’s interest rate announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 164.2 points to 10,629.47.

The TSX loss followed a 92-point slide Monday. However, the Toronto market is still ahead more than 40% since the start of the rally in early March, reflecting general optimism that the economy is recovering.

The financial sector was the leading decliner, down 2.6% with Royal Bank down $1.23 to $49.48. Scotiabank gave back $1.42 to close at $44.05.

CI Financial Corp. fell 70 cents to $20.20 after the mutual fund and asset management company reported a 62% drop in second-quarter profits as sales of its investment funds declined.

Financial sector losses picked up following comments from U.S. analyst Richard Bove of Rochdale Securities, who said that U.S. bank earnings are unlikely to improve in the second half and that many firms may post losses. He said investors should lock in profits after a surge in bank stocks since early March.

The Canadian dollar closed down 1.06 cents to 90.79 cents US as the American dollar continued to rally in the wake of Friday’s much better than expected jobless report for last month.

The energy sector lost 1.67% as the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved down $1.15 to US$69.45 a barrel.

American traders also pulled back as the Dow Jones industrial average moved 96.5 points lower to 9,241.45.

The Nasdaq composite index lost 22.51 points to 1,969.73 while the S&P 500 index slipped 12.75 points to 994.35 as the Fed started its scheduled two-day meeting on interest rates Tuesday.

It is widely expected that the Fed will hold interest rates steady at near zero, but investors are waiting to see what the central bank has to say in its assessment of the economy when the meeting concludes Wednesday.

The TSX base metals sector lost 0.9 cent as the September copper contract edged 3.2 cents lower to US$2.7365 a pound.

The gold sector was down slightly as the December bullion contract rose 70 cents to US$947.60 an ounce.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

Back to Top

	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	9,241.45	-96.50 or -1.03%	+5.30%
S&P 500	994.35	-12.75 or -1.27%	+10.09%
NASDAQ	1,969.73	-22.51 or -1.13%	+24.90%
TSX Composite	10,629.47	-164.20 or -1.52%	+18.27%

International markets

Back to Top

	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,585.46	+61.20 or +0.58%	+19.48%
Hang Seng	21,074.21	+144.69 or +0.69%	+46.48%
SENSEX	15,074.59	+64.82 or +0.43%	+56.26%
FTSE 100	4,671.34	-50.86 or -1.08%	+5.35%
CAC 40	3,456.18	-48.36 or -1.38%	+7.40%
DAX	5,285.81	-132.31 or -2.44%	+9.89%

Bonds

Back to Top

Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.12	101.73	3.49
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.02	116.17	3.98
U.S. 10-year bond	95.47	94.78	3.68
U.S. 30-year bond	96.87	94.59	4.44

Currency

Back to Top

BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9078	0.9185
US $	1.1015	1.0887

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6415	0.6496
Euro	1.5588	1.5395

Commodities

Back to Top

Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$942.75	$946.00

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$69.38	-$1.22 or -1.73%

(08/11/09)