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Dec. 10, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) --
Toronto stocks are modestly higher on Thursday morning, boosted by some encouraging economic data from both sides of the border.
The S&P/TSX Composite was up 31.47 points at the outset, to 11,410.69.
Mining stocks are up, as Teck Resources has rallied 2.5%, HudBay is up 1.5% and First Quantum has added 1%.
Gildan Activewear has rallied 8% after the company reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $42.39 million U.S. or $0.35 U.S. per share, compared to $21.83 million U.S. or $0.18 U.S. per share last year.
Oncothyreon said that Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, has initiated a Phase 3 trial of Stimuvax in Asian patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
ADF Group Inc. posted third-quarter net earnings of $1.4 million or $0.04 per share, compared to $6.5 million or $0.18 per share for the same quarter last year.
Cliffs Natural Resources said it increased its offer to acquire Montreal-based Freewest Resources Canada to a fixed value of $1.00 in Cliffs shares per Freewest share.
West 49 reported third quarter net income and comprehensive income of $2.9 million or $0.04 per share, compared to $2.07 million or $0.03 per share last year.
After the close yesterday, Lululemon Athletica reported net income loss for the third quarter of $14.1 million U.S. or $0.20 U.S. per share, compared to $8.8 million or $0.13 per share in the year-ago quarter.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported an unexpected trade surplus of $428 million in October, compared to a deficit of $850 million in the prior month. Exports were up 3.4%.
The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.39 cents to 95.23 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 are in positive territory to begin the day. Metals and mining surged 1%, followed by energy and industrials, up 0.6% each.
Telecoms weighed most on the losing groups, down 0.3%, while gold stocks faded 0.1% and health-care stocks were 0.03% below Wednesday's close.
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 7.88 points to 1,417.96, while the Nasdaq Canada index was up 5.09 points to 702.96.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks rallied Thursday as the dollar weakened against the euro, lifting commodities and the shares of companies that do a lot of business overseas. A mixed weekly jobless report was also in the mix.
The Dow Jones Industrials added 60.54 points to 10,397.59, while the S&P 500 gained 5.91 points to 1,101.86, while the Nasdaq picked up 10.02 points to 2,193.75.
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., said trading could be heavily influenced by the weekly unemployment claims report, considering last month's surprisingly low payroll losses."It's increasingly important," Hogan said, referring to the initial jobless claims report. "It's gotten a lot more eyeballs than it used to."
He said even moderate factors in the markets, such as mild moves in currencies and commodities, could cause big swings because of low volume ahead of the holidays.
Stocks gained Wednesday as the falling dollar boosted commodity stocks and a rise in wholesale inventories and an upgrade of 3M provided some optimism.
On the economic front, investors were focusing on reports on initial claims for unemployment benefits and the U.S. trade balance before the opening bell -- though they showed little reaction to the weaker-than-expected job report.
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for state jobless benefits rose to 474,000 in the week ended Dec. 5. That's up 17,000 from the prior week.
Jobless claims were expected to have declined by 2,000 last week to 455,000, according to analysts surveyed by Briefing.com.
However, continuing claims, the number of Americans receiving benefits for a week or more, declined more than expected.
The Commerce Department is expected to report that the nation's trade gap widened in October to $36.8 billion U.S. from $36.5 billion U.S. in September.
At 10 a.m. ET, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish projections on job growth by industry.
The flow of funds report from the Federal Reserve is due around noon ET. The report is likely to show that household net worth continued to fall in the second quarter, along with home values.
The Treasury budget is due in the afternoon. Analysts believe the government ran a deficit of $131.6 billion in November after a $176.4 billion shortfall in October.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies before the Congressional Oversight Panel about the federal government's bailout of the financial system.
The panel, in a report issued Wednesday, found that the bailout stopped the financial panic and stabilized the banking system after the once-in-a-lifetime measure was hurriedly enacted in October 2008, but failed to stem problems like lackluster lending and growing foreclosures that still plague the economy.
In company news, Costco, the number-one warehouse club operator, posted fiscal first-quarter earnings of 60 cents U.S. a share, down from 65 cents U.S. a year ago but in line with analysts' expectations.
Shares of AOL will begin trading Thursday after the Internet firm officially separated from media giant Time Warner Wednesday.
Treasury prices went down, raising yields to 3.46% from Wednesday's 3.42%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil inched up $0.02 to 70.69 cents U.S.
Gold prices gained $1.50 to $1,130.02 an ounce U.S.