Bay Street Edges Higher in Early Trading

Bay Street Edges Higher in Early Trading

Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 10:15 AM EST: (Thomson Financial Corporate Group): Toronto stocks are holding on to gains this morning, led by mining, gold and material issues. Earnings from BCE and U.S.-based Google and Boeing are in focus this morning. Also in the States, the FOMC wraps up its two day meeting on interest rates today, with the results due out at about 2:15 PM EST. Industrial, technology and utility shares are declining.

* The S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index is rising 8.19 points, or
0.09%.

* Yesterday, the S&P/Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index surged 66.08
points, or 0.72%.

* Telecom stocks are edging higher in early trading. BCE reported
fourth-quarter net income of C$0.45 a share, up from C$0.41 a share a
year earlier. The most recent result matched the mean analyst estimate,
as provided by Thomson First Call. Revenue advanced to C$5 billion from
C$4.8 billion. For the year, excluding restructuring items and net gains
on investments, BCE earned C$2.02 a share, compared with C$1.89 a year
prior.

* Ivanhoe Energy is jumping this morning, after it reported a natural gas
discovery at the Peach prospect in the North Antelope Hills area in Kern
County, California. Meanwhile, EnCana Corp. is proceeding with its
planned sale of conventional oil and gas assets in Western Canada, the
Gulf of Mexico, Ecuador and some natural gas gathering and processing
facilities in the U.S. Rocky Mountain states.

* Elsewhere, Lionore Mining International entered into a joint venture
with African Rainbow Minerals at the Nkomati nickel mine in South
Africa. The deal is valued at US$48.5 million.

* Gold shares and the yellow metal are making a strong comeback, following
recent weakness, as the U.S. dollar slides against the euro. Meanwhile,
oil prices are near the unchanged mark, ahead of U.S. weekly inventory
data, due out at 10:30 AM EST.

* Within the technology group, Emergis said that its fourth-quarter loss
from continuing operations narrowed to C$0.25 a share from C$0.45 a
share last year. Quarterly revenues declined to C$45.6 million from
C$68 million last year. Turning to research, Deutsche Bank started
Research In Motion at "hold."

* South of the border, Google's fourth-quarter profit and revenues surged
to levels above the mean Thomson First Call estimates. The stock is
rallying in response. In other upbeat tech news, Adobe Systems and
Nvidia upwardly revised their quarterly outlooks.

* In U.S. industrial reports, Boeing's fourth-quarter net profits dropped,
while the firm posted better-than-expected revenues.

-- Linda.Shea@thomson.com; Thomson Financial Corporate Group



This is Thomson Financial Corporate Group's Canadian Commentary, which is updated twice daily. The information herein is believed to be true and accurate, we take no responsibility for inaccurate information and reserve the right to update our reports. For more financial information at your fingertips, please visit http://www.irchannel.com/. If you have any questions please e-mail James Sang at james.sang@tfn.com or call 646.822.6233. For more information about Thomson Financial visit us on-line at http://www.thomsonfinancial.com/.

PRNewswire -- Feb. 2


Source: Thomson Financial Corporate Group

Web site: http://www.thomsonfinancial.com/
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