By James Langton
(August 14 – 09:10 ET) – The week opens rather bereft of ecnomic data, but it will heat up by Wednesday with inflation reports coming out on both sides of the border. There are no releases out in the U.S. today and the opening of the Democratic convention in Los Angeles is about as good as it gets.
Statistics Canada today reported that new auto sales rose 3.6% in June, due to increased sales of new trucks.
The futures markets are quiet for lack of economic data. European stocks are up lightly, led by telecoms, although reports of a slowdown in German consumer spending has some traders jittery. The FTSE is up 45 points to 6430. The CAC 40 has gained 49 to 6601 and the DAX is up just 13 points to 7336.
It’s shaping up to be a merger Monday. News Corp. has agreed to buy Chris-Craft Industries Inc. for about US$5.35 billion in cash and stock, a deal that was rumoured last week. Broadcom Corp. is buying NewPort Communications Inc. for US$1.24 billion in stock. Chiron Corp. is taking out PathoGenesis Corp. for about US$700 million. And Peco Energy Co. will buy 49.9% of Sithe Energies Inc.’s business in North America from Vivendi SA for US$680 million.
Asian stocks were mixed overnight. The Nikkei rose 36 points to 16153 and the Hang Seng slipped 216 points to 16998.
In earnings news, Extendicare Inc. said it lost 10¢ a share in the quarter ended June 30 compared with a loss of 14¢ in the same quarter a year earlier.
Sleeman Breweries Ltd. saw its latest quarterly net income rise 23% to 25¢ a share from 21¢.
And Microcell is reporting net losses for the quarter ended June 30 of $1.84 a share, which includes securities writedowns of $21 million.