Business
Toronto up, New York down
Toronto up, New York down
About this update from Teck Resources Limited Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\nToronto up, New York down\n\nH-P weighing on markets\n Feb. 10, 2009 (Baystreet.ca) -- 12:25 pm EST\nEquity markets found themselves traveling in opposite directions by the midday break Thursday, with Toronto gaining back some of the ground it lost over two bruising days. A conference going on between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama may also have helped improve the mood, at least in Canada. New York markets slid into negative country by noon, due in part to a weak earnings report from computer/printer company Hewlett-Packard Co.The S&P TSX Composite Index was ahead 80.64 points by early afternoon to 8,256.59, largely on the strength of surging energy and base metals stocks. Among energy stocks, Petro-Canada rose 89 cents to $27 and EnCana Corp. gained $1.02 to $50.42.The financial sector was ahead as European banks said Thursday that they were finally ready to clear credit default swaps in Europe, in an effort to avoid extra European Union legislation over the derivatives that were partly blamed for the financial crisis.Swaps offer insurance against securities for lenders worried about a borrower's ability to pay them back. The unregulated $60-trillion U.S. market has been operating without a central clearing house to handle the deals since the September collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Bros.Royal Bank gained 74 cents to $27.72 while Bank of Montreal climbed 52 cents to $27.12. The base metals sector ran up as Teck Cominco Ltd. improved 16 cents to $4.31.Cameco Corp. shares were down $1.20 to $17.92 after the uranium miner said it is raising between $400 million and $460 million in an issue of new common stock "to strengthen its capital position and enhance its financial flexibility to allow it to take advantage of opportunities that may emerge from the current industry environment."Among gold stocks, shares in Goldcorp Inc. were down 15 cents at $40.68 as the miner ended 2008 with its biggest-ever quarterly gold production and a 7% year-over-year increase in reserves, while booking fourth-quarter net income of $958.1 million U.S. thanks to a $985.7-million non-cash foreign exchange gain on revalued future tax liabilities.In other earnings news, Silver Wheaton Corp. said Thursday that writedowns on long-term investments led the company to a fourth-quarter loss of $54.2 million...