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Dow and gold up while oil down { November 4 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=087af7e2-0c7b-46c3-b8e1-0e0f14eef89ahttp://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=087af7e2-0c7b-46c3-b8e1-0e0f14eef89a
Stock markets mainly higher ahead of key economic data, lower oil
Malcolm Morrison
Canadian Press
November 4, 2004
TORONTO (CP) - Stock markets tacked some moderate gains onto the post-election rally Thursday as investor attention turned back to fundamentals - corporate earnings and economic news.
The Canadian dollar continued to benefit from American dollar weakness, up 0.28 of a cent at 82.99 cents US. The loonie hasn't closed above 83 cents US since early September 1992.
The U.S. greenback suffered against other major currencies - hitting a nine-month low against the euro of $1.2883 US.
"The markets are starting to behave more like the foreign-exchange markets (over fears that) nothing is going to be done in terms of near-term economic fixes and nothing is definitely going to be done in terms of the massive imbalances in the U.S. economy," said Andrew Pyle, senior economist at Scotiabank.
"As a result, those imbalances if they remain, will eventually become a drag on the economy, which means from an equity point of view, you cannot be that optimistic with respect to top-line growth and profit growth."
Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was up 19.84 points at 8,861.19. The TSX Venture Exchange was up 12.36 points to 1,616.92.
On Wall Street, the Dow industrials gained 44.32 points to 10,181.37.
The Nasdaq composite index lost 1.42 points at 2,002.91, with the tech sector pressured by a lower profit outlook from cellphone equipment maker Qualcomm Inc. The company's stock fell $1.74 to $38.13 US.
The S&P 500 index was up 5.12 points at 1,145.49.
Investors in particular are looking ahead to Friday's U.S. jobs report for October. Investors are looking for the U.S. economy to have added around 175,000 jobs last month, with the jobless rate remaining steady at 5.4 per cent.
Markets got a positive bit of related news Thursday morning as U.S. claims for jobless benefits last week came in at 332,000, lower than the 340,000 that had been expected.
The Canadian employment report for October also comes out Friday. Economists expect to see the creation of 29,000 jobs and a jobless rate staying the same at 7.1 per cent.
In the only Canadian economic report out Thursday, Statistics Canada said contractors took out $4.4 billion worth of building permits in September, down 3.3 per cent from August and the first time since late 1997 that permits have fallen for three months in a row.
Investors were also relieved to see the price of oil recede. The price of light, sweet crude for December delivery in New York falling 38 cents to $50.50 US a barrel.
On the TSX, the information technology sector was the biggest decliner with Nortel Networks losing eight cents to $4.19 and Celestica shedding 42 cents to $17.12.
The gold sector was the strongest group as the price of bullion rose $6.50 to $430.60 US an ounce in New York. Kinross Gold rose 60 cents to $9.33 and Placer Dome was up $1.11 to $26.80.
In other early news:
-Quarterly profit at flight-simulator company CAE Inc. fell to $14 million from $15.1 million due to discontinued operations. Its shares rose five cents to $4.88.
-Shares in Cinram International tumbled $5.14 to $18.50 after reporting a solid jump in third-quarter profits but warning that future earnings will be eroded by rising costs of oil-based plastics used to make CDs and DVDs.
-Petro-Canada's third-quarter profit jumped 42 per cent to $410 million. However, the company also reported lower production and its shares fell $1.03 to $64.90.
-Alcan shares rose $1.54 to $58.80 as its third-quarter profit soared to $167 million US, from $87 million US a year earlier, as its takeover of France's Pechiney started producing savings.
-Biovail Corp. reported its third-quarter profit tripled to $49.6 million US, but its shares lost $1.79 to $20.63.
-Profits at the Brascan Corp. conglomerate nearly doubled in the third quarter to $192 million as the company generated strong results from its growing power business and booked a special gain from the sale of part of its lumber assets. Its shares were off 26 cents at $42.88.
© The Canadian Press 2004
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