All groups gain in Toronto
Apr. 23, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Canadian stocks were hovering in positive territory in mid-morning deals Friday amid inflation and retail sales data. Traders were also reacting to mixed economic data from the U.S., the country's biggest trading partner. The S&P/TSX Composite Index surged 42.94 points by Friday noon to 12,203.81, just below its 18-month high of 12,211 hit on April 15. Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy gained 0.74% and Pacific Rubiales Energy rose 2.58%. In the information technology space, Open Text gathered 4.06%. The company scheduled to report its earnings next week. Meanwhile, Research In Motion eased 0.39%. Among financial stocks, CIBC was up 0.70% and Scotiabank edged up 0.27%. In the gold space, Lihir Gold moved up 1.12% and New Gold was up 2.05%. Meanwhile, International Forest Products lost 1.63% even after reporting a narrower first quarter loss of $0.07 per share, compared to a loss of $0.29 in the year-ago period. Sears Holdings said it will add a further 17.3% stake in merchandising company Sears Canada by purchasing over 18 million shares at $30 each from Pershing Square Capital Management LP Funds. This would take up its total stake to 90.4%. Sears Canada gave in 1.60% In economic news, Statistics Canada said the country's annual inflation rate slowed to 1.4% in March from 1.6% the previous month. The agency noted that gasoline prices exerted the most upward pressure on the all-items consumer price for a fifth straight month. In other report released today, the agency said retail sales in Canada were up 0.5% in February from the previous month, following January's 0.9% increase. Excluding auto, retail trade slipped 0.1% on a monthly basis compared to the consensus forecast of 0.8% increase. The Canadian dollar docked 0.30 cents to 99.70 U.S. ON BAYSTREET All but one of the 14 TSX subgroups were in positive territory by noon. Gold led the way, climbing 1.4%, while information technology and materials gained 0.8% each. The lone naysayer was the global base metals group, which slipped 0.4%. The TSX Venture Exchange regained 7.35 points to 1,659.40, while the Nasdaq Canada index was off 3.44 points to 789.12. ON WALLSTREET In New York, equities sank Friday, after a report showed a spike in new home sales and Greece accessed emergency loans. The Dow Jones industrial average approached noon Friday down 7.33 points to 11,126.96. The S&P 500 index eased 1.97 points to 1,206.70. The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.52 points to 2,509.55. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou formally announced Friday that his nation will seek up to $53 billion U.S. in aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. European finance leaders pledged earlier this month that Greece could receive, if necessary, as much as $40 billion U.S. at a 5% interest rate. The IMF is prepared to lend Greece $13 billion U.S. Fears that Greece will not make its May 19 deadline for refinancing about $11.4 billion U.S. in debt grew Thursday after Moody's cut its bond rating on Greece. A separate report showed that Greece's deficit may be worse than previously estimated. So far, the first-quarter corporate reporting period has been strong, with 85% of companies in the S&P 500 beating earnings expectations American Express reported higher quarterly earnings late Thursday that topped estimates. The Dow component also said its customers spent more in the first quarter than a year earlier and that it set aside less money for loan losses. Shares gained nearly 4% Friday. Fellow credit card distributor Capitol One Financial also posted earnings that improved from a year earlier and topped estimates, and also set aside less for loan losses than in previous quarters. However, the company said customer loan demand is still weak. Shares gained 1%. Microsoft posted a higher quarterly profit that surpassed forecasts, due to a continued strong response to its Windows 7 operating system, introduced six months ago, as well as its Bing search engine. Microsoft shares were little changed in morning trading. Also late Thursday, Amazon.com reported earnings that jumped 68% from a year earlier, surpassing forecasts, on higher sales that also beat expectations. Amazon shares fell 1% in morning trading. Economically speaking, the government said orders for durable goods fell 1.3% in March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected orders for long-lasting manufactured goods, such as refrigerators and airplane parts, rose 0.1% last month. In February, durable goods orders rose 1.1%. A separate report showed new home sales rose to a 411,000-unit annual rate in March from a 324,000-unit annual rate in February. Economists expected sales of 330,000. Treasury prices lost ground, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.82%, from Thursday's 3.77%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions. The price of a barrel of oil was up 80 cents at $84.50 U.S. Gold prices leaped $12 to $1,155 U.S. an ounce.