Feb. 5, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks were looking to recoup some of yesterday's losses on Friday as traders were digesting mixed economic news from both sides of the border.
In the first half-hour of trading, however, the S&P/TSX Composite Index slid another 85.76 points to 11,043. The index fell to a three-month low Thursday, tumbling 261 points in one day.
While Canada reported improvement in jobs situation, the numbers from the U.S., country's biggest trading partner, was relatively discouraging. Moreover, commodity prices were struggling to come off from their recent lows, while concerns over euro region still lingered in the minds of investors.
In corporate news, information technology player RDM Corp. reported first-quarter net loss and comprehensive loss of $0.02 per share, compared to a net loss and comprehensive loss of $0.08 per share last year.
Commercial real estate company Brookfield Properties said its fourth-quarter funds from operations or FFO increased to $222 million from $191 million in the year-ago period.
Aerospace and industrial products maker Heroux-Devtek Inc. reported third-quarter net income of $0.12 per share, compared to net income of $0.16 per share in the same quarter last year.
Bombardier Aerospace announced that it has delivered 302 aircraft for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2010 versus 349 aircraft deliveries made in the previous fiscal year 2008-09.
In brokerage updates, UBS cuts Shoppers Drug Mart price target to $50 from $52. RBC trimmed TMX Group price target to $31 from $33, while cutting that of Fortis Inc. to $30 from $31.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said the economy created more jobs in January than expected, with employment rising by 43,000 month, against the consensus estimates for a rise of 15,000. With this, the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.
The Canadian dollar regained 0.32 cents to 93.55 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
At the outset of Friday's session, all but two of the 14 TSX subgroups were lower. Metals and mining again suffered the most, dropping 1.7%, followed by health-care stocks, down 1.1% and consumer discretionaries, off 0.9%.
The TSX Venture Exchange fell another 15.04 points to 1,437.14, while the Nasdaq Canada index had subsided 1.91 points to 709.97.
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks were set for a flat start on Friday, buoyed after the release of an important job market report, even as the rest of the world endured a selloff.
The Dow Jones industrial average subsided 26 points to 9,976.18. The S&P 500 index lost two points to 1,061.11. The Nasdaq composite surrendered 2.85 points to 2,122.58.
U.S. stocks dived Thursday, with the blue-chip Dow briefly falling below the 10,000 mark, amid fears about the growing debt crisis in Greece, Spain and Portugal. The Dow finished the session down 2.6% while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 both sank 3%.
On the economic front, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy shed 20,000 jobs in January, which was worse than expected. However, the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7%, the lowest it has been since August 2009.
The government was expected to show a net gain of 15,000 jobs for the month, with an unemployment rate of 10%, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
Troubled automaker Toyota said Friday it was looking into the brakes of its latest Lexus hybrid vehicles because they use the same system as that used on the 2010 Prius.
The problem is the latest for Toyota, which is being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration due to braking problems with the Prius.
Treasury prices fell, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.61% from Thursday's 3.59%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil lost a dime to $73.04 U.S.
Gold prices stumbled five dollars to $1,058 U.S.
