Stocks on Bay Street traded higher this afternoon -- led by a climb in energy stocks -- as investors took in a mixed bag of earnings and corporate news.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 77.05 points to 8,872.50.
George Weston Ltd. has reported flat third-quarter net earnings of $179 million, as sales increased 4.4 percent from a year earlier to $10.61 billion. The international baker and majority owner of Loblaw Cos., Canada's largest supermarket operator, said Tuesday its operating profit was $413 million in the 16 weeks ended Oct. 4, up by 9.8 percent from a year ago.
Shares in TransCanada Corp. dropped 5 percent after Monday's announcement of bought-deal issue of $1 billion in new shares to pay debt and fund capital projects including its Keystone Pipeline.
Enbridge Inc. said it will invest US$500 million in Enbridge Energy Partners LP, raising its stake in the U.S. pipeline business to 27 per cent.
Shifting to economic data, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that producer prices fell by a record 2.8 percent in October. Economists were expecting a decline of 1.8 percent. The core rate PPI increased by 0.4 percent, above expectations for a 0.1 percent uptick.
National home prices, driven lower by a flood of foreclosures, plummeted in the third quarter by a record 9 percent year-over-year, according to a report issued Tuesday. The median price of a single-family home fell in four out of five states, the National Association of Realtors reported. The national median price was $200,500, down 2.9 percent from the second quarter of 2008.
The Canadian dollar, meanwhile, was trading at 81.57 cents, up 0.001 cents from Mondays close.
BAYSTREET
Seven of the TSX sub-groups traded higher this afternoon -- tech stocks were up 2.85 percent, financial issues climbed 1.78 percent and energy issues were ahead 1.36 percent.
Gold was losing $7.70 at $734.30 US an ounce.
On the downside -- utility stocks were down 4.08 percent followed by a 2.24 percent drop in health-care issues and a 1.84 percent slump in real-estate stocks.
Meanwhile, the TSX Venture Exchange moved down 3.16 points to 782.63 and NASDAQ Canada stocks rose 20.81 points to 449.85.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks drifted higher on Tuesday amid cheer over technology titan Hewlett-Packard Co.'s surprisingly rosy profit picture and a battle on Capitol Hill over whether to use federal bailout funds to help at-risk homeowners.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 85 points at 8358. The Nasdaq slipped 2 to 1481, and the S&P 500 rose 5 points at 856.
Twenty of the Dow's 30 components posted early gains, with shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. rallying 13.6 percent after the personal-computer maker said it would beat Wall Street targets for its fourth quarter and for the ensuing fiscal year.
Off the Dow, Yahoo Inc. shares climbed 10.6 percent after the Internet tech giant said CEO Jerry Yang would step aside, six months after merger talks broke down with Microsoft Corp.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank cut their price target on Citigroup $9, which on Monday announced plans to lay off 20 percent of its work force.
The automakers, also lately on the ropes, were once again on investors' radar, as Mazda Motor said Ford was reducing its stake in the Japanese company to 13 percent from 33 percent. Ford, along with General Motors and Chrysler, are facing mounting cash-flow problems on declining vehicle sales, credit crunch -related financing troubles and substantial legacy costs.
Looking at the day's earnings, hardware store operator Home Depot announced earnings that fell 31 percent year over year on declining revenue. Fashion retailer Saks swung to a third-quarter loss.
Longer-dated U.S. Treasury securities were rising in price. The 10-year note was adding 3/32 to yield 3.64 percent. The 30-year was up 6/32, yielding 4.18 percent. The American dollar was flat vs. the euro, gaining on the pound and declining against the yen.
As for commodities, crude oil was adding 20 cents to $55.15 US a barrel.
