Translate
Jan. 15, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Resource heavy Bay Street may struggle to move up on Friday, as falling commodity prices could dampen sentiment. The Canadian market was unable to sustain any direction so far in this year, pulling back after hitting a 15-month high above 12,000 on Monday.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index plummeted 85.54 points at the outset to 11,718.84
Energy and gold stocks may reel under pressure as the prices of commodities continued to display the weak trend of the past few days.
The price of crude oil was lingering around $79 U.S. a barrel, after hitting a 15-month high on Monday. Meanwhile, the price of bullion eased $9.8 to $1,132.80 U.S. an ounce.
In corporate news, Agrium will reportedly intensify its efforts to acquire CF Industries Holdings, now that CF has dropped its own bid for rival Terra.
Gold miner Kinross Gold Corp. said that its 2009 full-year production is expected to be about 2.23 million gold equivalent ounces, an increase of around 21% over 2008 production. Looking ahead for 2010, the company expects full year production to be approximately 2.2 million gold equivalent ounces.
Pinetree Capital Ltd. said it upped its stake in Silver Spruce Resources Inc to 15.6% by acquiring four million common shares and four million common share purchase warrants.
First Capital Realty Inc. announced that the size of the public offering of Series H senior unsecured debentures has been increased by $25 million, to $125 million.
Pure Energy Services Ltd. announced that its Board of Directors has approved an initial capital expenditure budget for 2010 of about $6 million.
Pacific Rim Mining announced that it has closed its $2.355 million private placement financing.
Ivanhoe Mines denied a Dow Jones news service report that it chairman is selling his stake in the company.
Oil and gas producer Anderson Energy plans to sell at least 19.2 million shares at $1.45 a share to part finance its debt repayment and expansion.
In a similar move, Extendicare Real Estate Investment Trust said it will sell eight million units at $9.35.
Healthcare provider DiagnoCure Inc. reported that its fourth-quarter net loss narrowed to $0.07 per share from $0.09 per share last year.
Technology and engineering service provider Rutter Inc. reported net earnings for the first quarter of $0.003 per share, compared to $0.002 per share in the same quarter a year-ago.
Sporting goods retailer Forzani Group said sales dropped 1.8% in the key holiday season.
Eastman Kodak filed complaint with the U.S. International Trader Commission claiming Apple and Research in Motion are infringing a patent related to ways to preview images.
In brokerage updates, RBC ups Potash Corp price target to $150 from $125. UBS trims Kinross Gold to $25 from $26.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said today New Motor Vehicle sales dipped 6% to 124,764 units in November, after moving up for the past four months.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.74 cents to 97.74 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
All but one of 14 TSX subgroups were negative to start the day. Gold lost 1.8%, materials were off 1.3% and global base metals slid 1.1%.
The lone gainer was telecoms, up 0.2%.
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 3.95 points to 1,591.34, while the Nasdaq Canada index subtracted 8.63 points to 729.72.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, bank stocks led an early selloff Friday as investors sold shares of JPMorgan Chase and Intel despite better-than-expected quarterly profit reports from both companies.
The Dow Jones Industrials fell 75.05 points at the opening to 10,635.50. The S&P 500 took off 6.21 points to 1.142.25, and the Nasdaq retreated 18.46 points to 2,298.28.
A mild reading on inflation and mostly in-line readings on manufacturing were also in the mix.
Stocks managed gains Thursday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 closing at the highest point since Oct. 1, 2008 and the Nasdaq ending at the highest point since Sept. 3, 2008.
Financial services firm JPMorgan Chase reported earnings per share of 75 cents U.S., which is better than the 61 cents U.S. expected by analysts, according to a consensus from Thomson Reuters. Revenue of $26.8 billion U.S. was also better than the expected $26 billion U.S.
After U.S. markets closed Thursday, Intel issued upbeat quarterly financial results. The chipmaker's earnings and sales topped Wall Street's estimates.
On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation reading, showed a less-than-expected increase of 0.1% for December. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected an increase of 0.2%, compared to a rise of 0.4% the prior month.
The core CPI for December also rose 0.1%.
A report on industrial production and capacity is also due out Friday, as is the University of Michigan's report on consumer sentiment.
Treasury prices spiked, lowering the yield on the 10-year note to 3.66% from Thursday's 3.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil lost 57 cents to $78.84 U.S.
Gold prices lost $9 to $1,134 U.S.