Business
Stocks crawl out from rubble
Stocks crawl out from rubble
About this update from Fortis Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nStocks crawl out from rubble\n\nInvestors chew up jobless figures\n Feb. 5, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) -- Canadian stocks were looking to recoup some of yesterday's losses on Friday as traders were digesting mixed economic news from both sides of the border.\n\nIn the first half-hour of trading, however, the S&P/TSX Composite Index slid another 85.76 points to 11,043. The index fell to a three-month low Thursday, tumbling 261 points in one day. \n\nWhile Canada reported improvement in jobs situation, the numbers from the U.S., country's biggest trading partner, was relatively discouraging. Moreover, commodity prices were struggling to come off from their recent lows, while concerns over euro region still lingered in the minds of investors.\n\nIn corporate news, information technology player RDM Corp. reported first-quarter net loss and comprehensive loss of $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss and comprehensive loss of $0.08 per share last year.\n\nCommercial real estate company Brookfield Properties said its fourth-quarter funds from operations or FFO increased to $222 million from $191 million in the year-ago period.\n\nAerospace and industrial products maker Heroux-Devtek Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $0.12 per share, compared to net income of $0.16 per share in the same quarter last year.\n\nBombardier Aerospace announced that it has delivered 302 aircraft for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2010 versus 349 aircraft deliveries made in the previous fiscal year 2008-09.\n\nIn brokerage updates, UBS cuts Shoppers Drug Mart price target to $50 from $52. RBC trimmed TMX Group price target to $31 from $33, while cutting that of Fortis Inc. to $30 from $31.\n\nIn economic news, Statistics Canada said the economy created more jobs in January than expected, with employment rising by 43,000 month, against the consensus estimates for a rise of 15,000. With this, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.\n\nThe Canadian dollar regained 0.32 cents to 93.55 cents U.S. \n\nON BAYSTREET \n\nAt the outset of Friday's session, all but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower. Metals and mining again suffered the most, dropping 1.7%, followed by health-care stocks, down 1.1% and consumer discretionaries, off 0.9%. \n\nThe TSX Venture Exchange fell another 15.04 points to 1,437.14, while the Nasdaq Canada index had subsided 1.91 points to 7...