Canadian stocks gained for a second straight day as precious metal prices continued to rise as the USD continues to weaken. Continued speculation that governments and central banks will inevitably step in with stimulus policies that will continue to weaken the currencies is helping fuel commodities.
The S&P/TSX Composite closed green; up 3.72 points, or .03%, to 12,501.72.
The price of oil for November delivery is up again; climbing .58% to $83.30.
Gold for December delivery is up again; up $10.00 to $1,348.90.
The Canadian Dollar is up against the US Dollar today; up .00064 of a cent to .988805 U.S. cents.
CLOSING NEWS --
Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest gold producer, continues to thrive on rising gold prices; share of ABX rose 1.9% again today. Goldcorp Inc. closed up 2%. The big winner of the day was Crocodile Gold Corp., which leaped nearly 30% on an announcement of a production increase.
Research In Motion Ltd.couldn't recover from an early drop and closed down 4.2% after coming up short in a survey of U.S. smartphone market share.
Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, advanced 0.7% as copper and zinc rallied.
IN AFTERNOON NEWS --
Global policymakers butted heads over currency policies on today as Western leaders warned China and other emerging markets that vast efforts to weaken exchange rates will jeopardize economic recovery.
Maple Leaf Foods is making wide operational changes, including plant consolidation and construction of a new prepared-meats factory starting in 2012, in an attempt to improve its profitability and competitiveness.
Metals stay strong -- Barrick Gold climbed 1.9% to $49.09 while base-metals miner Teck Resources rose 1.5% to $44.54.
Tech Laggards -- The tech sector is struggling so far today, led by Research In Motion which has dropped nearly 3%. Shares of RIM are being hurt by Motorola announced its Droid Pro will be release which will be targeting Blackberry customers.
Angiotech Pharmaceuticals is down over 4% after news hit that it is being sued by former shareholders.
MORNING NEWS --
Canada's dollar rallied to a two-month high today as the USD continues to falter against most other currencies on growing expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will further ease monetary policy.
Tiff Macklem, senior deputy governor for the Bank of Canada commented on the volatility in the Canadian dollar stating that it is a concern, but the Bank would only resort to market intervention in extreme circumstances.
In overnight trading, Gold topped $1,350. While off the highs, miners are still performing well, ABX is up 1.93%, Kinross is up .61% and Goldcorp has gained 1.16%.
Rogers Communications announced that it would pay $425 million in cash to buy Atria Networks to boost its services to the public sector and small and medium-sized businesses. Shares of RCI.A are trading even.
Bombardier Inc announced that Quebec will award the large civil aircraft maker a contract worth more than $1 billion to build nearly 500 subway cars for Montreal, putting an end to a bidding process that has dragged on for five years. Shares of BBD.B are down .77%
ON BAYSTREET
Seven of the TSX Subgroups closed in the green today. Base metals led the way; up 1.36%, followed by gold issues; up .92% and metals and mining, which closed up by .68%.
On the downside -- Info tech was down 2.29%, real estate issues were down .46%, while health care stocks lost .36%
The TSX Venture Exchange finished up by 6.03 points to 1774.06, while the Nasdaq Canada index closed in the red; down 8.87 points to 623.43.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks tumbled some today with only the Dow Jones industrials holding a slight gain. Less than exciting jobs data hurt the markets in general and downgrades slowed any momentum in the technology sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 22. points, or .21% to 10,967.65. The S&P 500 closed down by .78 points, or .07%, to 1,159.97. The NASDAQ closed red as well; down 19.17 points, or .80%, to 2,380.66.
The US Dollar is dropping against the euro by .0104 and losing ground against the yen as well; down .3200.
Oil futures for November delivery are up $.48 to $83.30.
The 10-year bond yield is down .7500 to 2.399%.
DATA NEWS --
MBA Mortgage Applications --
The number of mortgage applications in the U.S. declined for a fifth straight week, led by a drop in refinancing despite mortgage rates dropping to a record low. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s index decreased 0.2% for the week ended Oct. 1. Refinancing fell to an eight-week low, while purchases increased by the most since April.
Challenger Job Cuts --
U.S. employers' announced job cuts totaled 37,151 for September. This marked the second lowest number for a month during 2010, a 7% increase from the 34,768 job cuts announced during August. So far for 2010, announced job cuts have been running 64% lower than the more than 1.13 million announced during this same point in 2009.
ADP Nonfarm Employment Change --
Automatic Data Processing announced in its monthly payrolls report today that the U.S. lost 39,000 private sector jobs in September compared to August. This number was above estimates of 18,000 expected. A loss of 45,000 jobs in goods-producing industries was offset slightly by 6,000 new jobs in services businesses, ADP reported.
On the a positive note, ADP announced that it revised the July to August report from an initial estimate of a decline of 10,000 to an actual 10,000-job gain.
U.S. crude inventories showed a surprising build last week. Crude oil stockpiles grew by 3.1 million barrels to 360.9 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 1, compared with an average survey estimate of 300,000-barrel rise. This morning, the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, reported a 4.4-million-barrel increase.
CLOSING NEWS --
Blue chips gainers were led by energy giants Exxon Mobil, which closed up $.68 at $63.94 and Chevron; gaining $.50 to $83.89. Other market leaders were Massey Energy (up $6.09 to $33.82) and Constellation Brand, which rose on better than expected bottom line numbers; closing up $4.82 to $15.82. (MEE 33.82, +1.94) and Constellation Brands (STZ 18.52, +0.76).
Financial Sector Sings the Blues -- Lackluster private sector employment data hit the fins today. Shares of M&T Bank fell after a Allied Irish Banks announced that it was going to dump more than 22% of its shares in the Company. Shares of MTB fell just over 5%.
Lehman in the News -- Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. reached a deal today with Ambac under which Ambac will drop its $6.1 billion claim against the bank’s bankruptcy estate.
Got Capital? -- Wilmington Trust Corp. shares nearly 12% after a report in Bloomberg News said the bank is seeking a capital infusion.
Drug News -- Shares of InterMune shares are popping after hours after the company announced that it has sold its worldwide development and commercialization rights to its Hepatitis C therapy, known as danoprevir, to Roche Holding AG.
IN AFTERNOON NEWS --
While not directly pointing fingers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner stepped up pressure on China to make more progress in moving toward flexible exchange rates based on the fact that China's currency is significantly undervalued.
GE inked a $3 billion deal to buy Dresser Inc., a maker of gas engines used by oil and gas production equipment. Shares of GE are up nearly 3%.
Gainers -- Material, industrial and energy sectors are assisting in keeping the Dow in the green. General Electric (mentioned above) and Alcoa (up 2.5%) are leading the way.
Laggards -- Defensive stocks are being dragged down by telecoms providers. AT&T (down .6%) and Verizon (down 0.7%) are the biggest drags on the Dow.
AT THE OPEN --
Airline stock are higher this morning with American Airlines parent AMR Corp. up 2.44% to $6.26. The NYSE Airline Index is up .46% in morning trading.
Earnings --
Costco (COST) -- posted a 16% rise in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings, aided by growth in membership fees and international operations. Costco also said same-store sales rose 5% in September, beating analysts' expectations for a 4.5% rise. Shares of COST are down .90%
Constellation Brands reported a better than expected quarterly profit, helped by improving its U.S. wine business. Shares are up 5.18%.
NOT FOR SALE! (Maybe) -- Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Dirk Meyer said this morning the company is not for sale, but added that that the company is ''happy to listen to any proposal which is in the interest to our shareholders.'' Shares of AMD are up .29%.
Acuisition News -- Yahoo has acquired display advertising company Dapper. The move is designed to boost its hold on the display advertising market. Shares of YHOO are down .21%
Shares of Henry Bros. Electronics are soaring; up 51% to $6.94 on news the company will be acquired for $7 a share by Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc.
Monroe Bancorp is up over 100% on news that Old National Bancorp agreed to pay a premium of 1.275 of its shares for each share of Monroe
American Superconductor announced that it has received the world’s largest order for high-temperature superconductor wire in a deal with a South Korean firm. Shares of AMSC are up 6.63% to $35.68.
Shares of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. are up nearly 8% on strong third quarter revenue estimates of over $8 million.
SLAMMED -- Equinox was downgraded by Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Oppenheimer. Shares are down 28.60% in morning trading.
On The Darker Side -- Hungary has declared a state of emergency because of a flood of toxic sludge in the town of Ajka (about 100 miles southwest of Budapest). Approximately 264 MILLION GALLONS of red toxic waste broke through a plant's reservoir and engulfed several towns on Monday destroying houses and causing evacuations. The sludge was thick and moving fast enough that it swept cars off the road and damaged bridges. Sadly, at least four people have already perished with three more missing and dozens have been injured. Emergency crews are working around the clock to clean up the mess.
