Toronto's main stock index recouped most of the losses from early in the day to finish the session slightly lower today. The drop in gold prices was a ticket for investors to secure profits at the week's end as small gains in the subindices could not prop up the overall resource profit takers.
The S&P/TSX Composite is closed down 10.62 points, or .08%, to 12,609.07.
The price of oil for November delivery is down; dropping 1.51% to $81.44.
Gold for December delivery is red at the moment; down $5.60 to $1,371.10.
The Canadian Dollar is down against the US Dollar at the moment; off by .00659 of a cent to .988335 U.S. cents.
ON THE DATA FRONT --
Canadians bought fewer cars and trucks in August according to Statistics Canada this morning. Sales were down 4.8% overall. Sales of passenger cars fell 4.3% to 55,762 units in August with North American-built vehicles accounting for the most of the decline. Sales of foreign-built cars were down 2.6%.
Manufacturing sales increased 2%, beating market expectations of a 0.4% gain for the strongest performance since June 2009. Statscan revised its estimate of July sales to a 1.1 percent decline from a drop of 0.9% previously.
CLOSING NEWS --
Rebound -- Taseko Mines Ltd., which produces copper in British Columbia, saw a rebound in share price today after a plummet yesterday which took share prices to $6.20. Shares closed today up 9.82% to $6.82.
Delay meant down -- After announcing that the shale/gas project with Talisman Energy in Quebec will be delayed by at least 6 months, shares of Questerre Energy Corp. fell 13.92% today to close at $1.67.
Gold plays give some back -- Shares of Kinross Gold fell 1.34% to $19.20, Barrick Gold Corp. shares dropped 1.14% to $48.53 and Yamana Gold closed near its low of the day, falling 2.48% to $11.42.
Analyst Upgrade/Downgrade Performers --
Raymond James cut its rating on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP.TO) rating cut to market perform from outperform. Shares of CP dropped .09% to $66.03.
Raymond James cut its rating on Dollarama Inc (DOL.TO) rating cut to market perform from outperform. Shares of DOL gained 1.41% to $26.54.
National Bank cut its rating of Flint Energy Services rating cut to sector perform from outperform. Shares of FES shed 1.06% to $15.87.
Wunderlich raised its rating on Gran Tierra Energy rating raised to buy from hold. Shares of GTE closed up .26% to $7.71.
AFTERNOON NEWS --
Some good news -- Shares of HudBay Minerals Inc. are up 2.50% to $16.39 after the Company announced increased mineral resource at its Back Forty project in Michigan. HudBay stated that the property has about 1 million ounces of contained gold and 3.2 million tons of inferred mineral resources.
Dalsa Corp announced that it plans to invest $160 million in new research and development initiatives over the next five years. The plans are to expand into markets such as medical, defense and security imaging. Shares of DSA are down 2.60% to $11.25.
Notable Companies Down -- Royal Bank of Canada is off by 0.2% to $55.08, and Suncor Energy has dropped 0.6% to $34.53.
Metals suffering -- Barrick Gold Corp. is off $.41 to $48.68 and Goldcorp Inc. has dropped $.17 to $45.19.
MORNING NEWS --
China's Sinochem will not launch a counterbid for Canadian fertilizer giant Potash Corp, removing one of the biggest potential hurdles to BHP Billiton's $39 billion offer. Shares of T.POT are down 1.09% to $146.61.
Lenders Climb -- Royal Bank of Canada, the country’s largest bank, is up 0.4%.
Magna International Inc., Canada’s biggest auto-parts maker is up 1.9% this morning after a Deutsche Bank AG analyst raised his 12-month price estimate on the company.
Gold Slips -- Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, is down 0.5% as the metal pulls back from record highs.
ON BAYSTREET
Nine of the TSX Subgroups closed in the green today. Consumer staples finished up by .42%, followed by consumer discretionary issues; up .32% and base metals; up .24%.
On the downside -- Materials finished down .71%, followed by gold; down .69% and then metals and mining shares; down .60%.
The TSX Venture Exchange is finished the day up by .50 points to 1822.53, while the Nasdaq Canada index closed slightly red; down by 2.03 points to 638.86.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks on Wall Street were relatively volatile today as poor economic data, dropping commodities, strong tech stocks and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech combined to keep the markets from picking a direction.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down by 31.79 points, or .29% to 11,062.78. The S&P 500 closed up by 2.38 points, or .20%, to 1,176.19. The NASDAQ also finished in the green; up 33.39 points, or 1.37%, to 2,468.77.
The US Dollar is up against the euro by .0086 and losing ground against the yen; down .1000.
Oil futures for November delivery are down $1.25 to $81.44.
The 10-year bond yield is up .8100 to 2.5760%.
DATA NEWS --
The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment reading for October came in at 67.9; down from 68.2 in the prior month and below the 68.5 that had been expected.
Business inventories for August showed a 0.6% increase. They had been expected to increase 0.5% following the 1.1% increase that was registered for July.
According to the U.S. Commerce Dept., retail sales climbed 0.6% for September representing the third straight month of gains.
CLOSING NEWS --
Oil futures ended the session and week lower as subpar economic data overwhelmed optimistic forecasts on oil demand from international energy agencies.
Gainers --
Genuine Parts Co. (GPC) shares added 4.74% to close at $47.70 after third quarter profits beat expectations.
Google Inc. hammered north as shares not only held the gains from the morning gap up after beating earning, but closed at the high of the day. Shares of GOOG closed up 11.19% to $601.45.
Western Digital Corp saw its shares gain 8.14% to close at $31.89 after an analyst speculated the hard-disk-drive manufacturer might be taken private.
Decliners --
Shares of Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. plummeted 15.87% to $1.75 after announcing an offering of approximately 14 million shares at a discount to Thursday’s closing price of $2.08.
AFTERNOON NEWS --
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased $4.69 billion in Treasury bonds today as part of officials' pledge to reinvest cash from maturing mortgage-backed securities and housing agency debt back into the bond market to support the wavering economy.
The financial sector was the market’s worst performer so far today. Bank of America Corp. is off by 4.37%, Wells Fargo & Co. is down 3.26% and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has dropped 3.25%.
AT THE OPEN --
Big Ben Speaks -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that high unemployment and low inflation point to a need for a further easing of U.S. monetary policy, but he offered no details on the central bank's next step.
Name calling? -- The U.S. government is at a deadline today and expected to speak officially on whether or not the U.S. feels that China is deliberately manipulating its currency to gain unfair trade advantages against the United States.
Acquisition News -- Hawk Corp. announced today that it's agreed to be bought by Carlisle Cos. Inc. for $413 million, or $50 a share in cash. Shares of HWK are up 2.02% and shares of CSL are trading up 1.74% to $32.22.
Earnings News --
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications reported this morning that it has achieved a third consecutive quarter of profits. Shares of SNE are trading down .90% to $31.93.
Gannett reported that it took in $1.31 billion in third-quarter sales, flat with the same period in 2009 and below estimates. Shares of GCI are trading at $13.03; down 7.52%.
General Electric posted a lower third-quarter profit and reported an unexpected soft amount of revenues. Shares of GE are trading down 4.66 % at $16.36.
Toy maker Mattel Inc. announced this morning that its third-quarter net profit rose 23% to $283.3 million, or $.77 a share, from $229.8 million, or $.63 a share, in 2009. These numbers were still below analyst estimates. Shares of MAT are down 7.83% to $22.12
Google Tops Estimates -- Google Inc. announced after the bell yesterday that it has posted a significant gain in third-quarter on the back of increasing demand for the search giant's online advertising. The Company announced that third-quarter net income rose to $2.17 billion, or $6.72 a share, from $1.64 billion or $5.13 a share in the same period in 2009. Net revenue for the period ended in September rose to $5.5 billion. Shares of GOOG gapped up hard and are holding; up 9.82% to $594.04 after briefly breaking $600 in premarket trading.
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