P.M. numbers: August 25, 2009

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

Bank of Montreal helped spark a rally in the financial sector and send the Toronto stock market sharply higher with quarterly profits that beat expectations.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved 130.56 points higher to 10,920.53 after the bank reported quarterly profit of of $557 million or 97 cents a share for the quarter ended July 31. That was up from $521 million a year ago and ahead of the average analyst estimate of 95 cents a share.

The results were helped by lower provisions for bad loans which fell to $417 million from $484 million a year ago.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.75 of a cent to 92.1 cents U.S. after the Bank of Canada warned it is prepared to intervene to ensure the Canadian dollar doesn’t continue its recent rise.

Bank deputy governor Timothy Lane said the economy is in the midst of staging a comeback, but that a persistently strong loonie could restrain the recovery.

The TSX and New York markets also got a lift from a better than expected reading on consumer sentiment while U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will be reappointed for a second term.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average moved up 30.01 points to 9,539.29.

The Nasdaq composite index added 6.25 points to 2,024.23 while the S&P 500 climbed 2.43 points to 1,028.

Traders also took in data showing that U.S. home prices posted their first quarterly increase in three years, signalling the housing market has turned a corner.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller’s U.S. National Home Price Index rose nearly three per cent from the first quarter, though was still down almost 15% from the second quarter last year.

The New York-based Conference Board says its Consumer Confidence index rose to 54.1 from an upwardly revised 47.4 in July. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected a slight increase to 47.5. Still, the index is far below 90, the minimum level associated with a healthy economy.

A recovery among consumers is considered vital to any potential economic rebound because their spending accounts for more than two-thirds of all economic activity.

Other commodity prices were mixed as the December bullion contract on the Nymex gained $2.30 to US$946 an ounce while September copper slipped 5.9 cents to US$2.856 a pound.

(THE CANADIAN PRESS)

North American markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Dow Jones	9,539.29	+30.01 or +0.32%	+8.69%
S&P 500	1,028.00	+2.43 or +0.24%	+13.81%
NASDAQ	2,024.23	+6.25 or +0.31%	+28.36%
TSX Composite	10,920.53	+130.56 or +1.21%	+21.51%

International markets

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	Close	Change	YTD
Nikkei	10,497.36	-83.69 or -0.79%	+18.49%
Hang Seng	20,435.24	-100.70 or -0.49%	+42.03%
SENSEX	15,688.47	+59.72 or +0.38%	+62.62%
FTSE 100	4,916.80	+20.57 or +0.42%	+10.88%
CAC 40	3,680.61	+28.44 or +0.78%	+14.38%
DAX	5,557.09	+37.34 or +0.68%	+15.53%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	102.98	102.70	3.39
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.66	118.39	3.89
U.S. 10-year bond	101.55	101.25	3.44
U.S. 30-year bond	104.69	103.75	4.22

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9210	0.9285
US $	1.0858	1.0770

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6434	0.6496
Euro	1.5541	1.5395

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$947.50	$950.50

Oil	Close	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$71.88	-$2.49 or -3.35%

(08/25/09)