Metals weigh TSX
Apr. 16, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Bay Street stocks are poised for a mixed opening Friday amid falling commodities prices and the continued flow of encouraging earnings reports from across the border. The S&P/TSX Composite Index opened the week's final session down 40.50 points to 12,171.02 Renewed concerns over the euro-zone debt issues and profit taking may put pressure on the markets. Financial stocks may be in play after Bank of America reported first quarter earnings of $0.28 per share, beating consensus estimates by a notable margin. Wednesday, JP Morgan reported first quarter net income of $0.74 per share, beating consensus estimates for a earnings of $0.64 per share. General Electric Co said Friday that excluding one time items it earned $0.21 per share in the first quarter, beating analysts' expectations for a net income of $0.16 per share. In corporate news from Canada, space science products maker COM DEV International bought substantially all of the assets of Routes AstroEngineering, a privately owned company specializing in the design and manufacture of advanced instruments for space science research applications. Logistics technology solutions provider Descartes Systems Group said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Dexxcartes bvba, has completed the acquisition of Zemblaz NV, formerly denominated as Porthus NV. Mineral explorer Keegan Resources announced that Maurice Tagami has been appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the company Gold company Avion Gold said it entered into an agreement with Canaccord Financial Ltd.to sell 35.80 million common shares for gross proceeds of $25.06 million. Gold explorer Alder Resources said it plans to complete a non-brokered private placement financing of 12 million common shares at $0.25 per share, for gross proceeds of $3 million. Elevators and escalators maker Symax Lift (Holding) Co reported net income of $0.04 per basic share for fiscal 2009, up from $0.02 per share in the prior year. Petroleum and natural gas company Bellamont Exploration said its fourth-quarter net loss narrowed to $0.01 per share from $0.02 per share in the prior year period. In economic news, Statistics Canada said manufacturing sales edged up 0.1% to $ 44.10 billion in February, with most of the sales increases in Western Canada and Ontario. Analysts were expecting the sales to edge up by 0.8%. The agency also said new motor vehicle sales increased 8.1% to 138,336 units in February. The Canadian dollar dipped 0.10 cents to 99.61 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but three of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower at the outset. Metals and mining tailed off 1.2%, while energy and materials slid 1% each. The three gainers were information technology and health-care, picking up 0.4%, and telecoms, inching ahead 0.1%. The TSX Venture Exchange eked up 1.13 points to 1,680.63, while the Nasdaq Canada index eased 2.01 points to 806.79. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks opened lower Friday despite strong quarterly results from General Electric and Bank of America. The Dow Jones industrial average gave back 19.19 points to 11,125.38 The S&P 500 index lost 5.11 points to 1,206.56. The Nasdaq composite slipped 14.03 points to 2,501.66. Stocks closed modestly higher Thursday as investors shrugged off the latest jobless claims report and Google reported much better-than-expected earnings after the closing bell. General Electric stock fell more than 1% after it reported first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street forecasts, but sales fell short of expectations. GE said net income fell 18% to $2.3 billion U.S., or 21 cents U.S. per share, in the first three months of 2010. Analysts at Thomson Financial had expected earnings per share of 16 cents U.S. The company said revenue fell 5% to $36.6 billion U.S. Analysts had forecast sales of $3.7 billion U.S. GE said it expects earnings to grow for the rest of 2010, though it may take more cost-cutting measures to improve profit growth even more. Bank of America stock fell more than 1% after it reported profit of 28 cents U.S. a share. Analysts had expected BofA to post earnings of nine cents U.S. per share. Late Thursday, Google said net income rose 38% from last year's first quarter. Operating income was $6.76 U.S. a share, topping analysts' estimates of $6.60 U.S. Google's stock fell more than 5%. On the economic front, the U.S. Commerce Department said the number of building permits issued during March, considered a gauge of future construction activity, rose 7.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000 from February's revised 637,000 rate, which was much more than expected. The March tally was the highest since October 2008, when 729,000 permits were issued. Permits were up 34.1% versus March 2009. Housing starts rose to an annual rate of 626,000 during the month, up 1.6% from February's revised rate of 616,000. Housing starts were up 20.2% from the 521,000 rate in March 2009. March housing starts were the highest since November 2008 and were better than forecast. Economists had expected housing starts to increase to an annual rate of 610,000. A report on consumer sentiment came out shortly after the opening bell. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for early April was expected to rise to 75 from 73.6. Prices for U.S. Treasurys rose, with the yield on the 10-year note falling to 3.82% from Thursday's 3.85%. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions The price of a barrel of oil tanked $1.64 to $83.87 U.S. Gold prices eased $12 to $1,149 U.S. an ounce.
