By James Langton
(September 20 – 17:00 EST) – Markets were very quiet today. Many traders were away celebrating Yom Kippur. And with nothing compelling to drag traders into work, many took a long weekend, leaving volumes thin in stocks and bonds – on both sides of the border.
The TSE 300 index closed down 13.5 points in listless trading. Volume was just 81 million shares. Declines outpaced advances about 11:9, but the volume was virtually evenly split between buyers and sellers.
The big news in the Canadian market today is that Sears Canada is buying up some assets from the ruins of the Eaton empire for $30 million in cash. In the process it will pick up $390 million in tax losses, eight stores, the name, trademark and website. It may operate under the Eaton’s brand online and by mail order, but the stores will become Sears stores. It also has the option to acquire five more stores.
The news pushed up the department store retailers on the TSE. Biotechs were also up, but there were no dramatic sector plays in either direction. The TSE’s 14 groups split down the middle in terms of winners and losers today.
Builders and oil and gas stocks led the downside trading, on news of further merger play in the U.S., where Chevron is talking to Phillips.
Phillip Services almost doubled to 38¢ from 19¢ on 3.7 million shares after it was announced that its restructuring has been approved. The hottest trader was Heritage Concepts which traded 8.3 million shares. The restaurant franchiser bought an Internet firm last week, undoubtedly sparking today’s interest.
Montreal actually made a bigger point move than the TSE today, closing down 19 points on its oil and gas stocks and weak banks. The Alberta market closed up 18 points, while the VSE dropped 2 points.
In New York the story was much the same – a very quiet day, the lowest volume day for the year so far, with listless, directionless trading. The Dow finished up 20 points. Nasdaq almost pushed to another all-time high upon adding 16 points, it needed 17.5 points to make its high. The S&P was up just four points.
Tech stocks, particularly the chip makers made a ghoulish upward move at the end of the day after news of a large earthquake in Taipei trickled out. Taipei is a big chip maker and some traders are betting that the quake, which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, could hurt its chip makers and boost demand from U.S. firms.