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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 6:14 PM EST
The close: Greece rescue hopes lift stocks
David Berman
No matter that hope for a solution to the Greek debt crisis is just that - hope - North American stock markets leapt higher on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 10,058.64, up 150.25 points, or 1.5 per cent, more than making up for Monday’s triple digit loss. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1070.52, up 13.78 points or 1.3 per cent.
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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 5:17 PM EST
RioCan disappoints, units fall
Simon Avery
The price of RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust units tumbled more than 5 per cent Tuesday after Canada's largest shopping mall company posted disappointing results.
RioCan said profit for the three months ended Dec. 31 fell to $28-million, or 11 cents a unit, down from about $29-million, or 14 cents a unit, from the year-earlier period. Funds from operations fell to $66-million (28 cents a unit) from $87-million (39 cents a unit). The consensus of analysts was for 32 cents a unit.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 4:56 PM EST
Dow 10,000: A review
David Berman
You can forgive investors for shrugging at the sight of the Dow Jones industrial average crossing the 10,000-point mark on Tuesday. Aside from the fact that the 30-member index is not representative of the U.S. stock market or that psychological thresholds are really just round numbers, investors have seen Dow 10,000 more times than they can probably remember.
If the level deserves any attention, it’s because it now serves as a vivid reminder of how the U.S. stock market has drifted sideways over the past decade. A recap:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 12:24 PM EST
At noon: Commodities driving rebound
David Berman
You know the markets are acting strange when the mere suggestion that the European Central Bank president will be jetting back to Europe to help deal with the Greek debt crisis is enough to send stocks on a tear.
Still, who’s complaining? On Tuesday, North American stocks shook off Monday’s debt-crisis-inspired decline, and held on to gains in midday action.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 11:36 AM EST
Bad news is good for Toyota shares
David Berman
More bad news for Toyota Motor Corp. TM-N It has just announced a bigger-than-expected recall, affecting 437,000 hybrid vehicles, including its popular Prius brand. To make matters worse, the Japanese auto maker is getting a tongue-lashing from debt rating agency Moody’s Investors Service.
Moody’s placed Toyota’s senior unsecured long-term rating under review for a possible downgrade. The short-term rating was left alone. While that might not sound too bad, the reasons behind the shift might raise some eyebrows: “This action is prompted by Moody’s concern that the growing scale of Toyota’s product problems and associated recalls may have longer term impacts on its brand equity, pricing power and market share in key markets. This raises significant risk that the recovery in the company’s earnings – whilst progressing – may not continue or will be at a much slower pace than originally contemplated and outside the tolerance level for its current rating.”
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 11:29 AM EST
Greece is a bit like Lehman Brothers
David Berman
The Economist’s Free Exchange blog has a nice roundup of why the debt crisis in Greece matters. Yes, Greece is a small country that represents just 3 per cent of the euro zone’s gross domestic product – and therefore any default on the government’s bonds would be something close to a non-event in monetary terms.
However, as the Economist’s blogger rightly points out, it isn’t the relative size of the Greek economy that matters here. After all, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. represented a pretty small slice of the financial pie when it failed – and the cascaded impact was certainly not a non-event. As the blogger explains:
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 9:52 AM EST
At the open: Commodities drive big gains
David Berman
Another day, another move by the Dow Jones industrial average above 10,000. North American stocks popped higher at the start of trading on Tuesday, following several sell-offs over the past week and upbeat hopes that the European Union will throw Greece a life-vest before concerns about a debt-default grow any worse.
The Dow rose 117 points or 1.2 per cent, to 10,025 – a day after it closed below the 10,000-level for the first time since November. The broader S&P 500 rose 15 points or 1.4 per cent, to 1071.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 9:16 AM EST
Premarket: Get ready for Dow 10,000
David Berman
Global stock market indexes – and U.S. indexes in particular – are poised on Tuesday morning to post their first strong gains in about a week, after hopes of a solution to the Greek debt crisis remove one of the big fears hanging over the global economy.
With about an hour before markets open, U.S. stock index futures were higher, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 70 points. The index slipped below the 10,000-point threshold on Monday for the first time since November, and has shed a total of 388 points over the past four trading sessions. Futures for the broader S&P 500 were up 10 points.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 7:42 AM EST
European stocks rise cautiously
Globe and Mail staff
European stocks rose cautiously Tuesday on hopes that EU officials will provide Greece with some form of support to handle its mountain of debt and keep the market crisis from spreading to other vulnerable countries.
Although the European Investment Bank said Tuesday it would not be able, according to its own rules, to offer Greece or any other country a bailout, investors are betting that a meeting on Thursday of EU heads of state will address the market’s worry about sovereign debt.
Britain’s FTSE 100 index was up 0.5 per cent at 5,116.17 and Germany’s DAX gained 0.3 per cent to 5,499.81. France’s CAC-40 rose 0.1 per cent to 3,610.95.
Asian indexes were mixed at the close, drawn between losses on Wall Street overnight and the improvement in confidence in Europe. In the U.S., a rise was expected on the open, with Dow Jones industrials futures up 56 points at 9,951.00 and Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rising 7.8 points to 1,063.70.
Monday, February 8, 2010 4:43 PM EST
The close: Goodbye Dow 10,000
David Berman
After making a couple of attempts last week, the Dow Jones industrial average closed below the 10,000-point threshold on Monday. While that level may not have the same psychological impact it had when first crossed in 1999, it nonetheless reminds us again that the broader U.S. stock market has gone nowhere over the past 10 years.
The Dow close on Monday at 9908.39, down 103.84 points, or 1 per cent – marking the first close below 10,000 since early November. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1056.74, down 9.45 points, or 0.9 per cent.
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.
