Stocks continue negative

Dec. 9, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --

Bay Street stocks remain modestly lower on Wednesday, following the lead of markets across the globe. The main index is down for a fifth straight session. By noon, the S&P/TSX Composite was still off by 27.15 points, to 11,341.78. Health-care stocks are down, as Biovail has dropped 3.25%, MDS is down 2.4% and Cardiome has slipped 2%. Toronto-Dominion has lost 1.9%, Royal Bank is down 1.7% and Scotiabank has declined 1.5%. Laurentian Bank of Canada has gained $0.70 after the lender raised its quarterly dividend to $0.36 a share from $0.34 -- becoming the first Canadian bank to raise its dividend in 15 months. In corporate news, First Quantum has declined 3.6% after the company said it agreed to acquire the Ravensthorpe Nickel Operation in Western Australia from BHP Billiton for $340 million U.S. EnCana Corp. has added 1.8% after the company said its board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.20 U.S. cents per share payable on December 31, 2009 to common shareholders of record as of December 21. Cameco Corp. has slipped 1.2% after the company said it will sell about 88.62 million common shares of Centerra Gold on a bought deal basis at $10.25 per share. Xenos Group has soared nearly 65% after the company reported that its revenues for the fourth quarter increased to $4.52 million from $3.80 million in the prior-year quarter. Evertz Technologies Ltd. has dropped 6.4% after the company reported net earnings for the second quarter of $17.5 million or $0.23 per share, lower than $34.1 million or $0.46 per share in the same quarter a year ago. The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.71 cents to 94.72 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Of the 14 TSX subgroups, nine were negative by midday. Health-care stocks had lost 1.8% by noon, followed by financials, off 1.4%, and telecoms, down 1.1%. The five gainers were led by gold, up 1.6%, materials, 1.5% and metals and mining stocks, picking up 0.7%. The TSX Venture Exchange charged ahead 15.52 points to 1,417.76, while the Nasdaq Canada index was up 15.16 points to 688.37. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks struggled higher Wednesday as a weak dollar boosted commodities and a report showing a surprise rise in inventories added to hopes about the recovery. The Dow Jones Industrials reversed course by noon and added 16.09 points to 10,302.06, while the S&P 500 faded 0.16 points to 1,091.78, while the Nasdaq fell 1.98 points to 2,171.01. Wall Street retreated Tuesday as global debt woes weighed and as a stronger dollar sapped commodity prices and select stocks. The dollar turned lower again Wednesday, helping to put a floor under stocks. The weak dollar has helped lift stocks over the last nine months, giving a boost to dollar-traded commodity shares and the stocks of companies that do a lot of business overseas and benefit from a weaker greenback. But over the last few weeks, the dollar has seesawed. The federal bailout plan known as TARP will be extended until Oct. 3, 2010, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday in a letter to Congress. However, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, originally enacted in October 2008 at the height of the credit crisis, will be scaled back and refocused on newer programs designed to stop foreclosures and make loans to small businesses. Separately, the Congressional Oversight Panel said that while TARP did help stabilize the banking system, it failed to boost spending or help stop foreclosures. On Tuesday, President Obama proposed reallocating money not used for TARP to help create jobs and provide other help to consumers. The president is reportedly meeting with the chief executives of a number of big banks next week to try to finesse more lending to consumers. Liberal and moderate Democrats have reached a deal on a number of provisions to replace the controversial public option portion of the health care bill. The agreement is considered to be a significant one as the Senate works to hammer out a bill that might garner broad support. Wholesale inventories in October rose 0.3% after falling 0.8% in September. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought they'd fall 0.5%. Treasury prices had broken even, back to Tuesday's 3.39%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil tailed off 35 cents to 72.27 cents U.S. Gold prices were still off four dollars to $1,140 an ounce U.S.