By Gavin Adamson
(April 26 – 18:00 ET) – The Toronto Stock Exchange jumped 269.59 points to 9,378 today, led by Nortel Networks and BCE. Nortel jumped by C$16.50 to $172.90, while BCE gained $12.30 to $174. Nortel’s fiscal quarter beat analyst estimates by about 10¢ a share of profit. But aside from industrials and utilities, most sub-sectors were down.
The Canadian Venture Exchange was pummelled by its sagging tech stocks again, although the mining and oil & gas plays did not fare well either. Unique Broadband Systems deflated by 10% to C$4.95, leading the index down by 40.15 points to 3,522.65.
The markets were otherwise jittery a day before the U.S. employment cost index, released tomorrow. The report will be scrutinized heavily by the Fed as it considers inflation and interest rate hikes.
The NASDAQ slipped by 81.14 points to 3,630.09. Losing stocks outplayed winners by 24 to 18, despite a surge in networking and semi-conductor issues. NASDAQ made news in Quebec this afternoon, announcing an agreement with the provincial government to set up “NASDAQ Canada.”
The Dow Jones industrial average slumped by 179.32 points to 10,945.50. 3M and Proctor & Gamble continued to suffer after posting disappointing quarterly results yesterday. DuPont slipped as well. The Standard & Poor’s 500 composite index dropped 16.15 points to 1,460.99.