By James Langton
(July 7 – 13:00 ET) – Markets are rallying this morning, or more specifically Nortel Networks is rallying, driving the indices higher in another thin market.
At midday the TSE 300 is up 109 points to 10,351. Volume is very light at 52.5 million shares, about 2:1 in favour of buyers. The split between advancers and decliners is virtually even.
Optimism that the rate tightening is over in the wake of this morning’s U.S. jobs report is boosting techs, specifically Nortel, which is up more than 3%, dragging the industrials up singlehandedly. The tech bounce is spilling over to JDS Uniphase, Research in Motion, Ballard Power, BCE Emergis, C-MAC and Mosaid Technologies.
On a broad sector basis however nine of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices are down, led by golds, mines and pipelines. Paper stocks and utilities are the only other areas of strength. West coast forestry workers reached a labour agreement this morning, bolstering that sector.
The big losers run the gamut from 724 Solutions to Precision Drilling, Cogeco, Cryptologic and Creo Products. TD Bank is another prominent loser, down 2.4% on 1.8 million shares. Placer Dome is off, too.
In business news, Air Canada and its pilots have resumed their contract talks.
In New York volume is light, but markets are up across the board on this morning’s bullish jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average has gained 129 points to 10,610. The NASDAQ is up 76 ticks to 4,036. The S&P 500 has added 22 points to 1,478.
The small caps are up modestly, too. The CDNX has gained nine points to 3,429 on light volume of 16.7 million shares. All of its groups are up, led by energy stocks. Bay Equities Inc. is the leading trader, flat at 10¢ on 2 million shares.