Mar. 23, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks may struggle to find direction Tuesday morning amid mixed clues. Commodities prices were paring their late-session gains yesterday, drifting lower in early morning deals. The S&P/TSX Composite Index pulled ahead 22 points in the early going to 11,989.17. Meanwhile, Statistics Canada said the country's leading index rose again in February. However, lingering worries over the Greece debt situation may continue to weigh on investor sentiment, capping any big upside movements in the stocks. The price of oil and bullion were marginally weak in early morning deals, after having recovered their intra-session losses in late deals yesterday. Crude for May was almost flat at $81.60, while gold for April eased $2.5 to $1,097 an ounce. Mining stocks may be in play. In a major M&A deal, Quadra Mining and rival FNX Mining have agreed to merge a $1.51-billion all-stock deal. Each FNX share will be exchanged for 0.87 Quadra shares, valuing each FNX share at $15.12. Mineral explorer Crowflight Minerals announced the appointment of Stephen Davies as its Chief Operating Officer. Investment banker C.A. Bancorp Inc. reported breakeven net income for the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $0.39 per share for the year-ago quarter. Oil and natural gas company Monterey Exploration reported lower funds from operations of $0.05 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to $0.11 per share in the prior-year quarter. Oil and gas explorer Angle Energy reported lower net income for the fourth quarter at $0.04 per share, compared to $0.07 per share for the year-ago quarter. Information technology company Glacier Media reported lower net income of $0.15 per share for 2009, compared to $0.30 per share for the year-ago quarter. Gold mining company Jaguar Mining reported a wider fourth-quarter net loss of $0.36 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.05 per share in the prior year quarter. Agricultural products dealer Alliance Grain Traders reported diluted net income of $2.74 per share compared to $2.91 per share in the year ago period Automobile dealer AutoCanada turned to profit, reporting fourth-quarter net earnings of $1.68 million, compared to a net loss of $67.12 million a year earlier. Real estate mortgage company Quest Capital slipped into the red in fiscal 2009, reporting a net loss of $0.14 per share, compared to net income of $0.16 per share a year earlier. In economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's leading indicators rose 0.8% in February after a 0.7% advance in January. Economists were expecting the leading composite index to rise 0.9%. The growth was largely led by household demand, with the housing index accelerating to 1.7% growth. The Canadian dollar was down 0.06 cents to 98.06 cents U.S. ON BAYSTREET Nine of the 14 TSX subgroups started out the day on the right foot. Information technology stocks led the way with a 0.9% surge, followed by global base metals, up 0.8% and metals and mining, advancing 0.7%. The five laggards were weighed by gold, off 1.1%, energy, 0.4% less energetic, and health-care, tailing off 0.05%. The TSX Venture Exchange nosed ahead 0.71 points to 1,555.30. The Nasdaq Canada index gained 5.40 points to 800.25. ON WALLSTREET In New York, stocks were set to open higher Tuesday as investors await a new reading on the strength of the housing market, and consider the progress of Wall Street reform legislation. The Dow Jones industrial average moved 15.80 points higher to begin the day at 10,801.65. The S&P 500 index was flat at 1,165.86, while the tech-rich Nasdaq inched ahead 1.29 points to 2,396.69. Investors will check the pulse of the housing market and the economic recovery with home resales data from February. The annual rate of existing home sales is expected to fall, but some experts said the decline won't spook the market from advancing. After the market opened Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors released its existing home sales index for February (10 a.m ET). According to Briefing.com, analysts expect sales to have fallen to a five-million-unit annualized rate, from 5.05 million in January. Late Monday, the Senate Banking Committee approved a regulatory reform bill put forth by Sen. Christopher Dodd, passing it on to the full Senate for the vote. The price of the benchmark 10-year note sagged, raising its yield to 3.67% from Monday's 3.66%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil dipped 39 cents to $81.21 U.S. Gold prices dropped a dollar to $1,099 U.S.
