Techs continue to drive markets

Much of today’s optimism follows
from continuing tech rallies in
the U.S. On a sector basis, tech
stocks are driving the TSE higher
too. Nine of the TSE’s 14 subgroups
are on the upside. Pipelines,
miners and real estate are the
weakest groups.

Among the techs, Nortel
and BCE are leading the
way, joined by a recovering
Newbridge, Research in Motion,
Certicomm and CAE.

On the downside, the insurers
are taking a beating after the
announcement of some disappointing
results from Fairfax Financial.
Fairfax is down $14 to $196 after
announcing that net earnings for
the latest quarter plunged 67% to
$2.45 per share this year from
$9.08 per share last year. It
attributed the drop to “lower
realized gains and higher
underwriting losses caused by
recent acquisitions and
international catastrophe-related
losses.”

The haircut for Fairfax has been
followed by some selling in
Kingsway Financial, the
Hub Group and the
Co-Operators.

Montreal is up 26 points so far.
Alberta is also up almost nine
points. The VSE is down more than
a point.

In New York, markets trade up
across the board ahead of
tomorrow’s employment data. The
Dow has gained about 67 points at
midday. Nasdaq continues to make
new highs, up 22 points, while
the S&P has added 10 points.