Bond and money markets closed for Remembrance Day

(November 11 – 09:30 EST) – The bond and money markets are closed for Remembrance Day on both sides of the border, and there are no major economic data releases on this day either.

Stock traders are hardly as reverent as the bond guys. So all the major markets are trading today. European stocks opened strong again today on continued merger optimism in the telecom sector.

Yesterday the buzz surrounded Mannesmann, today it’s British Telecommunications PLC and Vodafone AirTouch PLC. This is expected to drive interest in telcos and tech stocks in North America too. London’s FTSE 100 is up 72 points, more than 1%. The French CAC 40 has gained 1% itself, or 55 points; while the German DAX is up just 18 points.

In Asia market opinion was divided. The Japanese government announced it will spend an extra 6.5 trillion yen -US$62.2 billion – on public infrastructure investment to spur economic growth. Traders seem to doubt the plan. They knocked stocks back on some general economic pessimism. The Nikkei closed down about 1.3%, or 240 points. Hong Kong took its own tack though, with some tech stock buying it closed 130 points higher.

In business news, Nortel had a very positive analyst meeting yesterday in the wake of rival Cisco’s results, and is expecting to attract some good interest.

Sun Life Assurance Co. is reporting third quarter net income of $170 million from a $77 million net loss in the period last year.

IMAX reported its earnings in line with analyst expectations – 11¢ per share, down from 24¢ per share in the period a year ago.

EdperBrascan reported net income of 45¢ per share for the third quarter up from 22¢ per share in the period a year ago.