Feb. 16, 2010 (Baystreet.ca) --
Toronto stocks may find it easy to make headway Tuesday morning helped by upsurges in commodity prices.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index started a shortened week up 65.46 points to 11,535.27. Markets took Monday off for Family Day.
Investors may also keep aside, at least for now, worries over the euro zone after the European Union hinted on a tougher stance on the Greece situation. Encouraging financial reports from across the border may also aid sentiment.
Financial stocks may be in play after Barclays reported a twofold rise in its net profits for 2009.
In corporate news, energy company Nexen Inc. said it will be sell its subsidiary, Nexen Energy Marketing London Ltd to Nomura Holdings Inc. for $55 million.
Energy services company Enquest Energy Services announced Friday that it has signed a Letter of Intent with a U.S.-based corporation to sell the assets of Speedy Heavy Hauling, Inc.
Gold and precious metals explorer Orvana Minerals Friday reported first quarter net income of $0.01 per share, compared to a profit of $0.03 per share in the prior-year quarter.
Silver miner Pan American Silver reported fourth quarter net income of $0.31 per share, compared to a loss of $0.41 per share in the same period last year.
Uranium and gold explorer First Uranium slipped to loss, reporting third-quarter consolidated loss of $0.09 compared with a profit of $0.01 a year ago.
Research In Motion has introduced BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express -- free new server software, which provides economical advantages to small and mid-sized businesses.
Geothermal power company Magma Energy reported a second quarter net loss of $0.02 per share, compared to a loss of $0.01 per share in the same period last year.
Bio pharmaceutical company TBioSyntech, posted third-quarter net loss of $0.03 per share, narrower than $0.05 per share in the previous year period.
Merchant banker Clairvest Group swung to profit, reporting third-quarter net income of $0.14 per share, compared to a loss of $0.04 per share in the year-ago quarter.
Pharmaceutical company Immunotec slipped to loss, reporting a fiscal 2009 net loss of $0.065 per share, compared to profit of $0.013 per share in last year.
Mineral explorer Soltoro Ltd. said Friday it completed a non-brokered private placement of 6.71 million units at $0.35 per unit for total gross proceeds of $2.35 million.
Biological technology play Microbix Biosystems announced the closing of a private placement of 3,714,286 Common Shares at $0.35 per share, for total proceeds of $1.30 million.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said today that the country's factory sales increased 1.6% to $43 billion in December, mainly helped by a 4.4% rise in motor vehicle sales.
The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.40 cents to 95.72 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
Of the 14 TSX subgroups, 10 were in the green after the first hour Tuesday. Metals and mining were the mightiest, up 1.6%, materials and energy stocks followed closely behind, surging 1.4% each.
The four losing groups were laden by information technology, off 1.3%, telecoms, down 0.5%, and health-care, 0.4% to the bad.
The TSX Venture Exchange hiked 17.26 points to 1,516.01, while the Nasdaq Canada index skidded 9.54 points to 746.27
ON WALLSTREET
In New York, stocks advanced early Tuesday after Merck's better-than-expected quarterly results soothed wary investors and a weaker dollar propelled commodity prices and energy and metal issues.
The Dow Jones industrial average came gained 62.05 points to begin the week at 10,161.19. The S&P 500 index boosted itself 7.24 points to 1,082.75, and the Nasdaq composite gained 12.59 points to 2,196.12.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for Presidents Day.
The week ahead will demonstrate whether lingering concerns about Greek and Chinese markets will continue to hamper U.S. trading.
This has helped positive sentiment take hold of the European markets and U.S. pre-market trading, he said
A handful of influential companies report results this week, although the bulk of the reporting period has already passed.
Two Dow companies released results Tuesday morning.
Merck reported higher quarterly revenue that beat estimates on higher earnings that were in line with analysts' estimates. The drug maker said it won't issue 2010 guidance until April. Shares gained 1%.
Kraft Foods reported higher quarterly earnings that topped estimates on higher quarterly revenue that missed analysts' estimates.
The food maker said the sale of its frozen pizza business to Nestle will cut five cents U.S. per share from earnings annually, but its recent buy of British chocolate maker Cadbury will speed up long-term growth. Kraft shares fell 1.5%.
With 379 companies, or 76%, of the S&P 500 having reported, fourth-quarter earnings are on track to have risen 208% from a year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters. Revenues are set to rise 8%. Stripping out the buoyant financial sector, earnings are set to rise 16% and revenues 3%.
Treasury prices faded a bit, raising the yield on the 10-year note to 3.70%, from 3.69% late Friday. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The price of a barrel of oil leaped $2.22 to $76.35 U.S.
Gold prices galloped ahead $27 to $1,117 U.S.
