Market numbers: December 3, 2009

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

The Toronto stock market headed for a positive opening Thursday amid solid earnings reports from the Canadian banking sector, a sign of increasing strength in the American financial sector and higher oil prices.

The Canadian dollar moved up 0.08 of a cent to 95.3 cents US.

U.S. futures also pointed to a higher open on news that Bank of America Corp. will repay its US$45 billion in government bailout money.

The Dow Jones industrial futures moved up 37 points to 10,476, the Nasdaq futures gained 4.25 points to 1,795.75 while the S&P 500 futures added four points to 1,111.9.

CIBC reported fourth-quarter net income of $644 million or $1.56 per share, up from year-ago profit of $436 million or $1.06 per share. Revenues totalled $2.9 billion for the quarter, compared to $2.2 billion last year.

CIBC’s provision for loan losses surged 91% from a year ago to $424 million due to higher losses in the credit cards, unsecured personal lending and corporate lending portfolios. But provision for credit losses was down $123 million from the prior quarter, primarily due to lower losses in these same portfolios.

TD Bank Financial Group (TSX:TD) says net income for the fourth quarter was essentially flat compared with the same period last year sitting at just over $1 billion. TD’s provision for credit losses nearly doubled to $521 million compared with the year-earlier period but was down from the prior quarter. TD’s revenue was $4.7 billion, up from $3.6 billion a year earlier.

And National Bank Financial Group (TSX:NA) missed expectations reported net income of $241 million or $1.39 per share for the fourth quarter, up from year-ago profit of $70 million or 37 cents per share. Revenues came in at $1.1 billion, rising 43% from $765 million last year.

In other earnings news, airplane and rail manufacturer Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) saw its profits fall 26% to $168 million in its summer quarter amid harsh economic conditions which triggered recent layoffs. But the company said it managed to keep revenues at year-ago levels of $4.6 billion and announced a multimillion-dollar contract for its Aerospace division.

Bombardier has signed a contract worth US$779 million with AMR Eagle Holding Corp, the parent company of American Eagle Airlines for 22 CRJ700 regional jets.

In other corporate news, Comcast Corp. plans to buy a majority stake in NBC Universal for US$13.75 billion, giving the largest cable TV operator in the U.S. control of the Peacock network, an array of cable channels and a major movie studio.

Investors are also looking ahead to the release of November U.S. retail sales data before the open for the first solid look at how the holiday shopping season is faring. Without the help of the consumer, whose spending accounts for around for 70% of the economy, economists say any economic recovery will be modest.

A day before November jobless figures are released, investors will look to the release of the Labour Department’s weekly tally of first-time claims for unemployment benefits. The report is projected to show claims rose by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 480,000 last week.

And later in the morning, the Institute for Supply Management issues its service sector index for November. Economists expect that the index rose to 51.5 in November from 50.6 in October. A reading of 50 or above means the sector is growing.

Oil prices moved higher after losing ground Wednesday in the wake of data showing an unexpected sharp rise in U.S. crude inventories last week. The January crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 69 cents to US$77.29 a barrel.

The February bullion contract on the rose $6.40 to US$1,219.40 an ounce while March copper dipped a cent to US$3.25 a pound.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average jumped 3.8% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.2%.

London’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.07%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.5 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 advanced 0.64%.

(The Canadian Press)

North American markets (previous close)

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Dow Jones	10,452.68	-18.90 or -0.18%	+19.10%
S&P 500	1,109.24	+0.38 or +0.03%	+22.81%
NASDAQ	2,185.03	+9.22 or +0.42%	+38.55%
TSX Composite	11,779.73	+72.41 or +0.62%	+31.07%

International markets

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	Open	Change	YTD
Nikkei	9,977.67	+368.73 or +3.84%	+12.62%
Hang Seng	22,553.87	+264.30 or +1.19%	+56.76%
SENSEX	17,185.68	+15.77 or +0.09%	+78.14%
FTSE 100	5,337.86	+10.47 or +0.20%	+20.38%
CAC 40	3,820.49	+24.57 or +0.65%	+18.72%
DAX	5,815.50	+33.82 or +0.58%	+20.90%

Bonds

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Bonds	$Current	$Previous	%Yield
Cdn. 10-year bond	104.11	104.13	3.24
Cdn. 30-year bond	118.97	119.28	3.87
U.S. 10-year bond	100.55	100.84	3.27
U.S. 30-year bond	102.03	101.87	4.26

Currency

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BoC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.9530	0.9522
US $	1.0493	1.0502

Euro Spot Rate	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.6298	0.6328
Euro	1.5879	1.5802

Commodities

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Gold	AM	PM
London Gold Fix ($US)	$ 1218.25	$1,212.50

Oil	Open	Change
WTI Crude Future (US)	$77.31	+$0.71 or +0.93%

(12/03/09)