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Friday, November 20, 2009 04:52 PM
At the close: Down but resilient
Simon Avery
North American stock markets ended the day down on Friday, hit by a rising U.S. dollar, weak housing data and disappointing quarterly earnings.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX dipped 0.18 per cent to 11,579.33, with the biggest declines occurring in the energy sector. EnCana lost 27 cents, closing at $56.40. Suncor dropped 18 cents to $38.07.
Link to this postFriday, November 20, 2009 12:40 PM
At noon: Universal declines
Simon Avery
A rising U.S. currency, comments from Europe’s central bank and weaker than expected earnings results all conspired to pull North American markets down for another day on Friday.
At noon, Toronto’s S&P/TSX was off 0.45 per cent at 11,548.52, with Bombardier, Rogers Communications and MacDonald Dettwiler leading the decline.
Friday, November 20, 2009 12:34 PM
Negative T-bill yields
Simon Avery
Investors buying U.S. Treasury bills maturing in January and February Thursday were actually willing to pay the government to hold their money for them.
The yield on these securities fell into negative territory, sinking to minus 0.03 per cent. Who would make such an investment? It’s a rare phenomenon to see T-bills with negative interest rates, although it happened last year after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and investors panicked for safety.
Friday, November 20, 2009 10:09 AM
At the open: Stocks down but fighting
Simon Avery
North American stock markets began Friday down, although U.S. indices were close to crossing over into positive territory.
In Toronto, the S&P/TSX shed 33.75 points to 11566.55, with oil and gold producers losing ground as the U.S. dollar gained against the loonie and the euro.
Friday, November 20, 2009 09:28 AM
Premarket: Bad signals
Simon Avery
North American stocks looked ready to slide on Friday as market futures were down on concerns about the global economic recovery.
In Europe, the central bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said his team would start to pull back on stimulus and liquidity to head off any inflation.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 04:56 PM
At the close: Bulls blink
Simon Avery
Jittery investors dumped shares Thursday, seeking security in other assets including gold and the U.S. dollar.
Fresh economic data and several market reports provoked concerns that the eight-month global market rally could be nearing an end.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 01:47 PM
Utilities are the new gold
Simon Avery
This is the latest public advice to investors from Bill Gross: The world has changed, expect significantly lower returns and put some money into utility stocks.
As co-founder and co-chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., Mr. Goss manages the world’s biggest bond fund.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 12:34 PM
At noon: Stocks stagger
Simon Avery
North American stocks tumbled Thursday on weak economic data and a rising U.S. currency. The major indices in the U.S. and Canada were all down more than 1 per cent.
In Toronto, stocks were led lower by the financial and commodity sectors. Manulife Financial fell 7 per cent after chief executive officer Donald Guloien reversed his publicly stated position from just three months ago and said the company will raise at least $2.5-billion in common equity, in yet another effort to boost capital levels.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:20 AM
Big bullion bull
Simon Avery
John Paulson, lionized by many investors for his winning bet on the fall of the housing and financial markets, is now getting aboard the gold wagon.
The hedge fund manager told his investors that even at $1,150 an ounce, the bull run on gold GC-FTis just beginning, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 10:12 AM
At the open: Manulife pounded
Simon Avery
North American markets tumbled more than 1 per cent in the opening minutes of trading Thursday on fears that the seven-month rally is beginning to age.
Manulife Financial led the decline in Toronto, with the stock dropping 7 per cent and nearly three million shares trading hands in the opening four minutes.
Markets Blog Contributors
David Berman
David Berman has been writing about business and investing since 1995. He began his career at Canadian Business magazine, where he wrote full-length features on a range of topics, from goose slaughterers to broadcasters. Later, he moved to MoneySense magazine, where his emphasis turned to investing. More recently, he worked at the Financial Post as an investing writer and daily columnist. He has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Toronto and studied journalism at Ryerson University.
David Parkinson
David Parkinson has been covering business and financial markets since 1990, and has been with The Globe and Mail since 2000. A Calgary native, he received a Southam Fellowship from the University of Toronto in 1999-2000, studying international political economics.
Simon Avery
Simon Avery has covered telecom and technology for the Globe since 2004. Previously, he was a staff reporter for The Associated Press in Los Angeles and for The Wall Street Journal in San Francisco. He covered the boom and bust in Silicon Valley for the Financial Post between 1998 and 2001. Mr. Avery holds a Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science from the University of Western Ontario.
