P.M. market numbers: January 8, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market registered a solid advance Friday despite employment reports for December from Canada and particularly the United States that widely missed expectations.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved up 66.32 points to 11,953.83. The main index ran up 1.76% this week with investors satisfied that the general trend shows economic conditions are improving. They’re also hopeful that the weak data means the U.S. Federal Reserve will be in no rush to raise interest rates.

New York markets also had a muted reaction to the U.S. Labour Department report showing that the American economy lost another 85,000 jobs last month. Economists had expected a flat showing, or perhaps a slight job loss of around 1,000. A sharp drop in the labour force, a sign more of the jobless are giving up on their search for work, kept the U.S. unemployment rate unchanged at 10%.

Revisions to the previous two months’ data showed the U.S. economy actually generated 4,000 jobs in November, the first gain in nearly two years.

The Canadian dollar ticked 0.38 of a cent higher to 97 cents US as Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy shed 2,600 jobs in December, well below economists’ expectations that 20,000 jobs would be created.

Economists pointed out that December’s performance followed a huge gain of 79,000 jobs in November.

Still, BMO Capital Markets deputy chief economist Doug Porter says the jobs report shows that “the economic recovery will be uneven, with overall growth likely to pale compared with past recoveries.”

The TSX energy sector was ahead 0.37% as the February crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained nine cents to US$82.75 a barrel.

The TSX gold sector was ahead one per cent as the February bullion contract on the Nymex climbed $5.20 to US$1,138.90 an ounce.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 11.33 points to 10,618.19 for a gain of 1.8 per cent this week.

The Nasdaq composite index was ahead 17.12 points to 2,317.17 while the S&P index rose 3.29 points to 1,144.98.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	10,618.19	+11.33 or +0.11%	+1.82%
S&P 500	1,144.98	+3.29 or +0.29%	+2.68%
NASDAQ	2,317.17	+17.12 or +0.74%	+2.12%
TSX Composite	11,953.83	-66.32 or -0.56%	+1.77%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,798.32	+116.66 or +1.09%	+2.39%
Hang Seng	22,296.75	+27.30 or +0.12%	+1.94%
SENSEX	17,540.29	-75.43 or -0.43%	+0.43%
FTSE 100	5,526.72	-3.32 or -0.06%	+2.10%
CAC 40	4,024.80	+7.13 or +0.18%	+2.25%
DAX	6,019.36	-14.97 or -0.25%	+1.05%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	101.29	100.98	3.59
Cdn. 30-year bond	114.57	113.90	4.11
U.S. 10-year bond	96.30	96.31	3.83
U.S. 30-year bond	94.53	94.97	4.72

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9700	0.9662
US $	1.0309	1.0350

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6728	0.6720
Euro	1.4863	1.4824

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$1,121.75	$1,126.75

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$82.91	+$0.25 or +0.30

(01/08/10)