Thursday, September 21, 2006, 4:15 PM ET (Thomson Financial Corporate
Services): Canadian stocks ended nearly flat on the day, while shares south
of the border reeled on a reported slowdown in Mid-Atlantic manufacturing,
Canadian markets were pleased to see oil and gold begin a price rebound.
Still, technology, financial, healthcare and consumer discretionary shares
moved lower on the day.
* The S&P/TSX Stock Exchange Composite Index slipped 7.65 points, or
0.07%.
* BP PLC announced it will spend US$3 billion to retrofit one of its
refineries near Chicago to become a primary processor of oil and crude from
Canada. The project should be completed by 2011 and is expected to process
350,000 barrels of heavy crude per day.
* Turning to consumer discretionary and staple reports, Sears Canada
has said it will not declare a dividend in the second quarter of 2006, and
suspend dividend payouts, to protest the Ontario court decision yesterday
against its parent company, Sears Holdings. In personnel news, Loblaw, the
struggling supermarket giant, has ousted its president, John Lederer,
replacing him with Mark Foote (formerly of Canadian Tire), and Galen Weston
is succeeding his father W. Galen Weston, as Loblaw's executive chairman.
* Axcan Pharma has halted its Phase III clinical trial of Itopride for
indigestion, admitting the drug did not meet expectations. Axcan's CEO said
that the company will shift strategies for 2007, lowering R&D costs and
concentrating on acquisitions and growing its customer base.
* SCI Income Trust has decided to sell mattress maker Simmons Canada to
Simmons Bedding of Atlanta for C$130 million, returning the Canadian
company to the U.S. parent it left in a 1990 buyout. If the deal is
approved, SCI would redeem all of SCI's outstanding units for C$16.25 each
in cash.
* Oil has dragged down the Toronto market in the last 9 of 12 sessions,
but today was considered a "buy opportunity" day, and traders took
advantage, driving the cost up above US$61 again. Crude closed up US$0.85
at US$61.59.
* Gold drooped in the morning but recovered in the afternoon as the
greenback fell, moving up US$2.10 to close trading at US$588.30.
* Statistics Canada announced that July retail sales set a record,
rising 1.5%, up from a 0.4% drop in June and handily beating predictions of
a 0.8% rise. The upswing was attributed to higher oil and automotive sales,
with an 8.4% rise in the latter.
* South of the border, the Federal Bank of Philadelphia put a scare
into U.S. markets in mid-afternoon when it said that manufacturing activity
in the Mid- Atlantic states contracted unexpectedly. The business
conditions index fell to
-0.4 in September from 18.5 a month ago. Analysts were looking for a
positive reading of 15.0 for this month.
-- Carolyn.Crapo@contractor.Thomson.com; Thomson Financial Corporate Services
This is Thomson Financial Corporate Services Canadian Commentary, which
is updated twice daily. The information herein is believed to be true and
accurate, we take no responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve
the right to update our reports. For more financial information at your
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SOURCE Thomson Financial Corporate Group
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