Wednesday, February 8, 2012 12:06 PM EST
At noon: Markets deteriorate
MALCOLM MORRISON
The Toronto stock market gave up early gains late morning Wednesday with commodity prices losing early momentum.
Meanwhile, traders hoped that Greece is close to arriving at a deal that will see it get a crucial second bailout to stave off bankruptcy.
The S&P/TSX composite index lost 19.19 points to 12,493.23 while the TSX Venture Exchange was down 1.33 points to 1,662.01. The Canadian dollar declined 0.16 of a cent to 100.36 cents US, down from early highs at the U.S. dollar firmed.
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Wednesday, February 8, 2012 1:49 PM EST
Apple's distortion field extends to earnings
DAVID BERMAN
Apple Inc.’s AAPL-Q amazing quarterly earnings, released in January, continue to distort the U.S. market. Apple showed a profit in its fiscal first quarter of $13.1-billion – well ahead of expectations and more than double the $6-billion in earnings last year.
That’s a big-enough gain, and Apple is a big-enough company, to have a huge impact on the average earnings gain for companies within the S&P 500 – so big, in fact, that maybe some adjustments are in order.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 10:13 AM EST
At the open: Dow, TSX post slight gains
DAVID BERMAN
North American stocks rose slightly at the start of trading on Wednesday, with little economic news or significant progress in Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 4 points, to 12,883. The broader S&P 500 rose 2 points or 0.1 per cent, to 1,349. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 32 points or 0.3 per cent, to 12,544.
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 8:11 AM EST
Premarket: Dow shows slight gains
DAVID BERMAN
Global stocks were set to post modest gains on Wednesday morning, ahead of a light day for U.S. economic news but big hopes that Greek policy makers will agree on terms to accept euro zone bailout funds.
U.S. index futures were higher with about two hours before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start of trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 15 points or 0.1 per cent. Futures for the S&P 500 were up less than one point.
Both indexes rose ever-so-slightly on Tuesday, erasing earlier dips into negative territory -- reflecting uncertainty over whether Greece will pass austerity measures in time to hold off a messy default on its debt obligations.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 4:44 PM EST
The close: Dow recovers, but TSX slides
DAVID BERMAN
Stocks ended the day mixed on Tuesday, with U.S. major indexes recovering to slight gains while Canada's benchmark index fell under the weight of weak commodity producers.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 12,878.20, up 33.07 points or 0.3 per cent. The broader S&P 500 closed at 1347.05, up 2.72 points or 0.2 per cent. In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 12,512.42, down 47.43 points or 0.4 per cent.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 7:04 PM EST
Even volatile stocks look quiet
DAVID BERMAN
Bespoke Investment Group has found another way to point out just how tame the stock market action has been in 2012. We noted here before that the daily moves within the S&P 500 have been exceptionally tame next to some of the fireworks in recent years. But the moves among the most volatile stocks within the broader S&P 1500 also suggests that things are pretty quiet right now.
Bespoke went looking for the most volatile stocks within the index, targeting stocks that are priced over $10 (U.S.) and have the largest average intraday moves over the past 50 days. Just one stock has an average intraday move of more than 7 per cent: Diamond Foods Inc., whose shares have been bouncing around in recent months after collapsing last year over allegations of accounting irregularities.
More to the point, fewer than half of the stocks on the list have high-low intraday spreads of 5 per cent or more. "It wasn't too long ago that every stock on the list had an average daily spread of more than 5 per cent," Bespoke noted.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 6:51 PM EST
A dividend strategy for the brave
DAVID BERMAN
BP PLC BP-N raised its quarterly dividend on Tuesday, increasing the payout to 8 cents (U.S.) a share from 7 cents -- a bump of about 14 per cent. What's interesting about BP, of course, is that this was a company that looked close to failure in 2010 due to the enormous costs associated with the DeepWater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The increase is the company's first since reinstating the dividend last year, after it had ended payouts to conserve cash and lower the bad optics related to enriching shareholders. Now, though, BP has made it clear that it is by no means floundering: Its operating earnings rose to nearly $5-billion in the fourth quarter and its chief executive sounds encouraged, calling 2012 a year of "increasing investment and milestones."
For investors who love dividends, you have to wonder if there's a lesson here: While steadily increasing dividends are nice, turbulent payouts can also bring joys of their own if a company's underlying business remains strong.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 12:05 PM EST
At noon: TSX lower, Greek leaders in crisis talks
MALCOLM MORRISON
The Toronto stock market registered a minor loss late morning Tuesday as Greece weighed on markets for a second day as the country's leaders continued to negotiate terms of a second bailout to avoid looming bankruptcy.
The resource-heavy S&P/TSX composite index came back from a loss of over 100 points in early trading. The main index was down 15.91 points to 12,543.93 as financials turned positive and resource stocks bounced off early lows whiles commodity prices largely recovered from early losses.
The TSX Venture Exchange was off 3.99 points to 1,660.23.
The Canadian dollar also erased early losses as the American currency weakened, rising 0.09 of a cent to 100.54 cents (U.S.). The loonie had sunk as low as 100.21 cents U.S. earlier in the morning as commodity prices retreated and traders worried that Greece will default on its debt bought into the U.S. dollar.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 6:50 PM EST
The real problem with RIM
DAVID BERMAN
James Surowiecki has taken on the subject of Research In Motion Ltd RIM-T in his latest New Yorker column, arguing that the BlackBerry maker's struggle has less to do with being overtaken by Apple Inc.'s AAPL-Q iPhone and more to do with the consumerization of mobile devices.
As he explains: "The BlackBerry was designed for businesses. Its true customers weren't its users but the people who run corporate information-technology departments." Things have changed, though, as they often do with new products -- where everything from the computer to the telephone made their way from corporate and government use initially to the hands of consumers as they became cheaper and ubiquitous.
Unfortunately for RIM, the use of mobile devices didn't flow from corporate use to consumer use as they had hoped. As Mr. Surowiecki puts it: "In fact, even as the BlackBerry was at the height of its popularity, we were entering the age of what's inelegantly called the consumerization of I.T., or simply Bring Your Own Device. In this new era, technological diffusion started to flow the other way -- from consumers to businesses."
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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.
Sonali Verma
Sonali Verma is digital editor at the Report on Business. She has worked as a reporter, editor and producer of business news at Reuters, CNBC and Bloomberg News since 1995. Before moving to Toronto, she worked in New Delhi, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila.
Darcy Keith
Darcy Keith has been a business journalist since 1992 and joined the Report on Business in 2010 from Yahoo! Canada, where he was the senior editor of finance.
Previously, he was the business editor for CanWest News Service and has covered markets of all stripes for various wire services and publications, including as a correspondent for Knight-Ridder Financial News. He has worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Hong Kong, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto.
Nicolas Johnson
Nicolas Johnson has covered global finance, markets and investing since 1998. He joined The Globe and Mail in 2011. He has worked as a reporter and editor with Bloomberg News in Paris and Tokyo, and also worked briefly in emerging-market debt at Société Générale. Nicolas has a Bachelor of Arts from Queen’s University and a Master of Arts from Sorbonne University in France.
Jody White
Jody White is a web editor for Globe Investor. He previously worked as a senior editor at Canadian Business Online and has written for Maclean's, the National Post, and other national newspapers and magazines on topics from business to human rights to institutional investing.
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.
Scott Adams
Scott Adams is the Executive Editor for Report On Business. He was previously the Managing Editor of Globe Investor. He has been a business journalist for more than 12 years and also worked as an associate analyst on Bay Street.
Ian McGugan
Ian McGugan has been writing about investing, economics and business for more than 20 years. He joined the Globe and Mail in 2010 and has been investment editor since September.
He has been executive editor of Canadian Business magazine and founding editor of MoneySense magazine. He has won three National Magazine Awards for his business and investing writing. He has also worked at the Financial Post and the Financial Times of Canada.
Martin Mittelstaedt
Martin Mittelstaedt has had a varied reporting career at the Globe and Mail, covering politics, the environment and business. He opened up the Globe's New York bureau for the Report on Business, and has also been on the banking and capital markets beats. He's written extensively on investing themes.
David Milstead
A business journalist since 1994, David Milstead began writing for The Globe and Mail in 2009. During eight years at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colo., he individually or jointly won nine national awards from SABEW, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He has also worked at the Wall Street Journal. An Oberlin College graduate, he passed the Level I exam in the Chartered Financial Analyst program in December 2007.
