TSX ekes out gain

Nov. 25, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Canadian stocks moved back into positive territory in early trading on Wednesday morning. In the first half-hour of trading, the S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 49.32 points to 11,588.95. Gold has rallied to extend a record high. Copper has added 1.95 cents to $3.1755 U.S., and crude oil is also up. In corporate news, Constellation Software Inc. announced that Trapeze ITS is reducing its workforce by around 110 employees, primarily at the company's main office in Neuhausen, Switzerland. Silver Wheaton Corp. appointed George Brack to its Board. LM Ericsson Telephone Wednesday said it will buy certain assets of GSM/GSM-R business of Canadian network solutions company Nortel Networks for a purchase price of $70 million U.S. The Canadian dollar tacked on 0.98 cents to 95.43 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were higher in the early going. Leaders metals and mining, gold and materials were ahead 0.9% each. The two losing groups were health-care stocks, off 0.3% and information technology, down 0.04%. The TSX Venture Exchange gained back 15.54 points to 1,427.95, while the Nasdaq Canada picked up 2.70 points to 658.37 ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday as investors cheered a stronger-than-expected labor market reading ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. The Dow Jones Industrials began the last full day of a short week down four points at 10,429.71. The S&P 500 index slid 0.05 points to 1,105.60, while the Nasdaq regained 1.55 points to 2,170.73. Wall Street ended Tuesday's volatile session with modest losses as investors digested mixed readings on the economy. Things appeared a bit brighter on the job front Wednesday as the number of people filing for first-time unemployment claims fell to 466,000 last week, the lowest level since September 2008. Consensus estimates were for initial jobless claims to be 500,000, according to Briefing.com. Troubling numbers emerged from the manufacturing sector however, as new orders for goods declined unexpectedly by 0.6% in October, after gaining 2% in September. Also due out Wednesday is a reading on new home sales at 10 a.m. ET. The flurry of economic news could make for a particularly choppy trading session ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday All U.S. financial markets are closed Thursday for Thanksgiving. Stocks trade in a shortened session Friday. AIG CEO Robert Benmosche has officially agreed to a compensation package that could reach $10.5 million U.S., the company announced late Tuesday. Treasury prices backtracked, raising the yields on the benchmark 10-year note to 3.31% from Tuesday's 3.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil declined $0.28 to $75.74 U.S. Gold prices raced ahead $14 to $1,181 U.S.