By James Langton
(May 12 – 13:00 ET) – Traders received a little salve this morning from the U.S. Producer Price Index which showed that inflation remains subdued. After yesterday’s benign retail sales report economists were expecting as much. Statistics from last two days have relieved some of the perceived pressure on interest rates and stocks are heading up as a result.
The TSE 300 is up 138 points to 9270 at midday. Volume has been light at 75.8 million shares, although it is decidedly positive, about 3:1 in favour of buyers. Advancers are up 5:4 on decliners.
All the gains are coming in the tech stocks. The interest rate easing combined with some strong results out of Dell Computer has helped reverse momentum in the sector. Technology has been battered in recent days by sorry news out giants Cisco Systems, Intel and Motorola. Industrials are up more than 3% with Nortel Networks up more than 4% on 6.3 million shares.
Consumer stocks are gaining, thanks to the software group. Conglomerates, energy and utilities are also up. The usual suspects, BCE, JDS Uniphase, 724 Solutions, and Ballard Power are leading the way.
The downside is quiet, populated by modest slides in gold, real estate, media stocks and financials. Seagram is leading the media stocks down. AGF is down almost 4% in light trading as the merger speculation cools. Trimark has gained another nickel on huge volume of 1.6 million shares. Sun Life has jumped strongly in active trading, after some positive analyst comments. Both Manulife and TD are also trading heavily, and up modestly.
In New York stocks are up again too. The Nasdaq is the strong mover there, gaining 113 points to 3613 in light trading. The Dow is up 126 points to 10672. The S&P has gained 22 points to 1430.
The CDNX is up too, gaining 30 points to 3413 on light volume of 16 million shares. Techs are leading the way, followed by miners and oils. Conac Software Corp. is the strong trade, up 42% to 44¢ on more than 500,000 shares.