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Nov. 6, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks had slight gains on Friday morning, despite disappointing jobs reports from both sides of the border.
The S&P/TSX composite index picked up 49.28 points in the first half-hour of trading to 11.229.98.
Following two months of moderate growth, Statistics Canada said Friday morning that employment decreased by 43,000 in October, all in part time. This drop pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2 percentage points to 8.6%.
Energy stocks could come under pressure as crude oil has lost ground. Copper is down 2.3 cents to $2.934 U.S.
Suncor reported third-quarter earnings of $929 million for the recent quarter, compared to $815 million last year. On a per-share basis, earnings fell to $0.74 from $0.86 in the year-ago quarter.
Air Canada reported that its third-quarter net income was $277 million or $2.44 per share, compared to a loss of $132 million or $1.32 per share in the same quarter last year.
Kingsway Financial Services Inc. reported third-quarter net loss of $118.13 million U.S. or $2.19 U.S. per share, compared to net loss of $17.4 million U.S. or $0.32 U.S. per share last year.
CF Industries Holdings announced that its board has rejected Agrium Inc.'s latest revised proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of CF Industries for $92.99 apiece.
The Canadian dollar was off 0.60 cents to 93.20 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 gained ground. Gold jumped 2.9%, followed by materials, ahead 2% and metals and mining, up 1.5%.
Telecoms weighed the four losers, off 0.7%, financials were down 0.5% and real-estate stocks trailed yesterday's close by 0.4%.
The TSX Venture Exchange moved up 4.22 points to 1,335.77, while the Nasdaq Canada index tailed off 4.88 points to 629.42.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks turned higher Friday after an opening selloff, as investors eyed a weaker than expected October jobs report that saw the unemployment rate spike to a 26-year high.
The Dow Jones Industrials nipped up 23.05 points at the outset to 10,029.01. The S&P 500 index gained 3.32 points to 1,069.95, while the Nasdaq composite index jumped 9.49 points to 2,114.81.
The Labor Department reported that payrolls fell by 190,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate rose to 10.2%.
Economists had expected the economy to have lost another 175,000 jobs last month and for the unemployment rate to rise to 9.9%, according to a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
On the earnings front, AIG, the insurance behemoth bailed out by the U.S. government, reported its second straight quarterly profit after seven quarters of losses.
Results were better than expected, but the company's main insurance businesses posted weaker revenue, sending shares lower Friday morning. AIG stock had rallied Thursday ahead of the results.
Starbucks posted quarterly results late Thursday that topped expectations. The coffee retailer also boosted its outlook. Shares gained 4.3%.
Fannie Mae reported a nearly $19-billion-U.S. loss on bad loans and said it would have to seek more government funds. Shares gained 8%.
Treasury prices lost ground, raising the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.54% from Thursday's 3.52%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil lost 98 cents to $78.55 U.S.
Gold prices gained seven dollars to $1,096 U.S. an ounce.