Market closes for Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008

 

        Close   Change  YTD    
Dow Jones       11,348.55       -130.84 or -1.14%       -14.45%
S&P 500 1,266.69        -11.91 or -0.93%        -13.73%
NASDAQ  2,384.36        -32.62 or -1.35%        -10.10%
TSX COMP        13,063.85       -55.52 or -0.42%        -5.56% 
TSX VENT       1901.73       -21.91

BoC Close       Today   Previous       
Canadian $      0.9425  0.9396 
US $    1.0610  1.0643 

Euro Spot Rate  Today   Previous       
Canadian $      0.6374  0.6391 
Euro    1.5689  1.5647 

Gold    AM      PM     
London Gold Fix (US)    $791.00 $788.75

Spot Crude Oil Future(US$)      $114.40 +$1.53 or +1.36%       
Silver                 13.32             +0.22
Copper                 3.43             +0.12
Nat Gas               8.05              +0.07

News Summary:

A sharp selloff in bank stocks sent the Toronto stock market lower Tuesday, but TSX losses were limited by solid gains in energy and mining stocks.

Financials also led the way to a sharply lower session in New York following a glum report on investment bank Lehman Brothers.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index dropped 55.52 points to 13,063.85. The TSX Venture Exchange was down 21.91 points to 1,901.73 while the Canadian dollar advanced 0.29 cent to 94.25 cents US as Statistics Canada reported that higher demand for automotive products helped send wholesale sales up 2% to $45.2 billion in June, their fifth increase in six months.

New York's Dow Jones industrials fell 130.84 points to 11,348.84. The Nasdaq composite index moved down 32.62 points to 2,384.36 and the S&P 500 index lost 11.91 points to 1,266.69.

There were more jitters about the financial sector after an analyst at JPMorgan Chase cut his earnings estimates for Lehman Brothers because of a seasonal slowdown in business and continued weakness in the credit markets. Lehman shares closed down $1.99 or 13.25% to US$13.04.

Financials were also under pressure after former International Monetary Fund chief economist Kenneth Rogoff said that "the financial crisis is at the halfway point, perhaps."

He added that he expects "one of the big investment banks or big banks" to go under.
The TSX financial sector was down 3% as TD Bank declined $2.90 to $59 while Royal Bank lost $1.57 to $45.04.
"Canadian financials have to be treated quite differently, we're nowhere near the pain of writeoffs that have been endured by U.S. and European financials," said Vincent Delisle, portfolio strategist at Scotia Capital in Montreal.

"The real story of this summer is the U.S. dollar rally and commodity prices going down (which) has triggered some rotation out of resource stocks and into financials. So we've gone from a very dramatic oversold condition for banks to pretty much overbought conditions a few days ago."

Inflation worries were also on the rise after the U.S. Labour Department reported that rising costs for energy helped push wholesale prices up 1.2% in July, more than twice the 0.5% gain that economists expected.

The runup left prices for the past year rising at the fastest pace in 27 years.
"Maybe investors were hoping to shrug off the challenges of high commodity prices and inflation," said Jack A. Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in New York.

"But now we find out that perhaps the inflation situation is worse than we thought."
The Toronto energy sector was ahead 2% as the September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange gained $1.66 to US$114.53 a barrel after the dollar weakened against the euro and a rally in heating oil attracted new buyers into energy markets.

Mining stocks were also supportive with the gold sector ahead 2% as the December bullion contraction the Nymex closing up $11.10 to US$816.80 an ounce.

The base metals sector moved up 1.7% as Teck Cominco Ltd. improved $1.35 to $40.30.
Industrial and tech stocks were also weak.
There was also a reminder of the grim state of the U.S. housing sector as the government said that construction of homes and apartments fell in July to the lowest level in more than 17 years.

Housing starts came in at 965,000 on an annualized basis, down from a pace of 1.08 million in June. Meanwhile, the weak housing sector was a major contributor to a 24% drop in second quarter profit at Home Depot Inc. However, net income of US$1.2 billion or 71 cents a share beat analyst expectations of 61 cents a share.

On the TSX, declines beat advances 880 to 644 with 212 unchanged as 368.7 million shares traded worth $6 billion. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TSX
Most Active

                                               
ELR     Eastern Platinum Ltd    1.36    +0.02   +1.49%  19,419,537     
YRI     Yamana Gold Inc 11.04   +0.29   +2.70%  7,883,023      
UTS     UTS Energy Corp 3.91    +0.09   +2.36%  6,236,179      
RUT     Rutter Inc      0.14    -0.03   -18.18%         6,216,168      
SES     Saxon Energy Services Inc       6.97    0.00    0.00%   6,083,930      
BBD.B   Bombardier Inc  7.22    -0.24   -3.22%  5,855,157      
ABX     Barrick Gold Corp       35.52   +0.46   +1.31%  4,956,424      
RY      Royal Bank of Canada    45.04   -1.57   -3.37%  4,524,293      
BWR     Breakwater Resources Ltd        0.24    -0.02   -7.84%  4,230,785      
K       Kinross Gold Corp       16.63   +0.20   +1.22%  4,116,884      
CLL     Connacher Oil and gas Ltd       3.78    +0.28   +8.00%  4,096,775      
G       Goldcorp Inc    33.63   +1.28   +3.96%  3,821,792      
TLM     Talisman Energy Inc     17.99   +0.38   +2.16%  3,815,231      
PD.UN   Prcision Drilling Trust 20.86   +0.07   +0.34%  3,625,307      
TD      Toronto Dominion Bank   59.00   -2.90   -4.68%  3,608,067      

TSX Venture:
Most Active

                                               
MAA     MagIndustries Corp      1.70    +0.03   +1.80%  3,310,252      
TTA     Titan Trading Analytics Inc     0.37    -0.01   -1.33%  2,890,650      
TEL     Trigon Uranium Corp     0.23    -0.02   -8.00%  2,830,000      
HOP     Telehop Comnmunications Inc     0.65    +0.02   +3.17%  2,359,500      
PEP     Petrostar Petroleum Corp        0.41    +0.02   +5.13%  1,940,195      
SOR     Solana Resources Ltd    4.15    +0.05   +1.22%  1,744,726      
WPX     Western Potash Corp     0.78    -0.10   -11.36%         1,718,398      
NSE     Northern Sun Exploration Inc    0.04    +0.01   +16.67%         1,503,000      
NAG     North American Gem Inc  0.17    -0.02   -8.33%  1,467,034      
LGO     Largo Resources Ltd     0.48    -0.04   -6.86%  1,411,458      
WND     Western Wind Energy Corp        1.50    -0.17   -10.18%         1,123,376      
IZP.H   Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd   0.03    -0.01   -14.29%         1,068,100      
JNX     Junex Inc       1.95    -0.45   -18.75%         1,055,361      
BUK     Bridge Resources Corp   0.83    +0.08   +10.67%         1,054,520      
SN      Sennen Resources Ltd    0.40    +0.03   +8.11%  1,022,000      

Trading Halts/Resumptions:

Trade Resumption - KINGSMILL CAPITAL VENTURES INC. - KCV.P
Trade Resumption - NANOTECH SCIENCES CORP. - NAN.P
Trading Halt/ Trade Resumption - Victory Nickel - NI
Trading Halt/ Trade Resumption - Independent Nickel - INI
Trading Halt/ Trade Resumption - Victoria Gold Corp. - VIT
Trading Halt/ Trade Resumption - Gateway Gold Corp. - GTQ

Sources include Advisors.ca, tmxmoney.com, Canadian Press, Yahoo Finance,
Stockhouse.com , Canoe.ca