Financial Update for April 6, 2009

TSX Pulled down slightly by Gold

• TSX -7.38
• DOW +39.51 Buoying markets was a pledge by the world's major powers of more than US$1 trillion to help combat the global economic crisis and a change to U.S. accounting rules that had forced banks to value their assets at current prices.
• Dollar +.68c to 81.27USD
• Oil -$.13 to $52.51US per barrel. Oil prices dipped after the U.S. government reported that the country's unemployment rate rose to the highest rate since late 1983 as employers eliminated 663,000 jobs. There was some relief that the number was below expectations after estimates of 742,000.
• Gold -$11.60 to $895.60USD per ounce Actions agreed to at the G20 summit in London sparked fresh optimism for global growth and weighed on the price of gold -- traditionally a safe-haven for nervous investors - yanking gold-mining stocks down 7%
• Canadian 5 yr bond yields +.06bps to 1.88 four weeks ago it was 1.85
• http://www.financialpost.com/markets/market_data/money-yields-can_us.html


A few pieces of data will be released this week, but the bulk of the attention will be on Thursday's employment data, which is expected to show Canada's economy shed 55,000 jobs in March
Rise in Home Sales Helps Counter Gloomy Jobs Data
New York Times (04/02/09) P. B2; Healy, Jack The National Association of Realtors reported thatsales of pending homes rose a seasonally adjusted 2.1% in February from a month earlier, bolstered by double-digit increases in the Northeast and Midwest. The index of pending-home sales — which encompasses deals that have signed contracts but have not closed — bounced off a record low.