P.M. market numbers: August 14, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market closed slightly higher Friday, but lost ground on the week, following a second glum dose of U.S. economic data that raised doubt about how much the American consumer can participate in the recovery.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished off the lows of the session as early losses in the financial sector disappeared and energy sector declines moderated despite a steep drop in crude prices.

The index came back from a 112-point deficit to close 22.45 points higher to 10,848.01 after the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index for August came in at 63.2. That was much worse than the 69 reading that economists had expected and down from 66 posted in July.

The late-day recovery left the TSX down 37.32 points or 0.5 per cent on the week following four straight weeks of gains on optimism that an economic recovery will be in place by the end of the year.

The consumer report on Friday came a day after other data showed that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly dropped last month.

The economic news was better in Canada as manufacturing sales increased 1.9 per cent to $39.7 billion in June, a much better showing than the 0.3 per cent dip that economists had expected.

However, Statistics Canada said that strong sales in the aerospace industry and a rise in the price of petroleum and coal products largely explain the increase. Excluding both industries, Canada’s manufacturing sales would have decreased 0.5 per cent.

The TSX energy sector was off 0.48 per cent Friday as the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gave up early advances following the release of the consumer sentiment data to tumble $3.01 to US$67.51 a barrel. Suncor Inc. (TSX:SU) dropped 61 cents to $35.84 and EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) moved down 60 cents to $56.56.

The Canadian dollar gave up early momentum to move down 0.9 of a cent to 90.93 cents US.

The TSX Venture Exchange slipped 7.08 points to 1,193.42.

New York markets also finished well off the lows of the session as the Dow Jones industrial average moved down 76.79 points to 9,321.4, for a loss of 48.67 points or 0.5 per cent.

The Nasdaq composite index was down 23.83 points to 1,985.52 and the S&P 500 index dropped 8.64 points to 1,004.09.

Investors have sent markets higher this summer encouraged by improvements in housing, manufacturing and corporate profits. But without the support of the consumer, the U.S. economy’s recovery is in question.

Investors had earlier taken in data showing that the U.S. consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, was flat in July, in line with economists’ expectations. The core inflation rate, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, rose 0.1 per cent.

And the Federal Reserve said industrial production rose 0.5 per cent in July, better than the 0.3 per cent rise that economists expected.

The TSX financial sector was up 0.48 per cent after the Irish Times reported Friday that a major Canadian bank has proposed to take a stake in Allied Irish Banks. It said that the investment would take place only after AIB’s development loans move to NAMA, the National Asset Management Agency, which is being established by the Irish government to take over toxic development loans to developers.

Both CIBC (TSX:CM) and Royal Bank (TSX:RY) were mentioned as the interested buyer of a minority stake in the Irish bank, which confirmed it received interest from an unidentified third party.

But AIB said the discussions were "preliminary and are not expected to progress in the near term." Royal shares gained 65 cents to $51.36 and CIBC declined 31 cents to $67.75.

The base metals sector dropped 0.88 per cent as September copper fell back 7.8 cents to $US2.836 a pound. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) was down 80 cents to $29 while Sherritt International (TSX:S) lost 11 cents to $7.33.

The December bullion contract was down $7.80 to $948.70 an ounce, taking the gold sector down 0.56 per cent. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) faded 51 cents to $39.01.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	9,321.40	-76.79 or -0.82%	+6.21%
S&P 500	1,004.09	-8.64 or -0.85%	+11.16%
NASDAQ	1,985.52	-23.83 or -1.19%	+25.90%
TSX Composite	10,848.01	+22.45 or +0.21%	+20.70%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,597.33	+80.14 or +0.76%	+19.61%
Hang Seng	20,893.33	+32.03 or +0.15%	+45.22%
SENSEX	15,411.63	-106.86 or -0.69%	+59.75%
FTSE 100	4,713.97	-41.49 or -0.87%	+6.31%
CAC 40	3,495.27	-29.12 or -0.83%	+8.62%
DAX	5,309.11	-92.00 or -1.70%	+10.37%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.35	102.05	3.46
Cdn. 30-year bond	117.77	117.19	3.94
U.S. 10-year bond	100.05	100.22	3.57
U.S. 30-year bond	101.31	97.14	4.42

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9093	0.9183
US $	1.0997	1.0890

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6413	0.6431
Euro	1.5595	1.5555

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$957.50	$953.60

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$67.69	-$2.83 or -4.01%

(08/14/09)