Financial Update for May 5, 2009

Stocks surge as data encourage hopes world economy is reviving~ Resources lead TSX up almost 4% to 2009 high

It's like watching the market's blood pressure come down," said David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Funds in New York. "Every day that goes by without something bad happening is reducing the risk of an economic rebound getting derailed."

• TSX +373.41 to 9,870 as optimism over the health of the global financial sector and the economy in general pushed up issues across all industry groups.
• DOW +214.33The strength has raised hopes that a full-blown recovery is in process. Traders were heartened as the U.S. Commerce Department said construction spending rose 0.3% in March after 5 straight declines.
• Dollar +.90c to 85.22USD
• Oil +$1.27 to $54.47US per barrel
• Gold +$14.00 to $901.60USD per ounce
• Canadian 5 yr bond yields +.02bps to 2.02- Four weeks ago it was 1.88.

http://www.financialpost.com/markets/market_data/money-yields-can_us.html

*The yield, the rate of return on your bond, can be read through a yield curve, which is the pattern of yields on bonds. This increase in bond yield (and the decrease in spread) is something to watch. If the bond yield continues to go up, the spread will continue to shrink and this could be a trigger for interest rates to rise

*The yield, the rate of return on your bond, can be read through a yield curve, which is the pattern of yields on bonds. This increase in bond yield (and the decrease in spread) is something to watch. If the bond yield continues to go up, the spread will continue to shrink and this could be a trigger for interest rates to rise.