Canada's main stock market, the Toronto Stock Exchange, didn't
feel much love this Valentines Day - closing down more than 50
points, albeit more than 20 points above day lows hit early
afternoon.
The two most active stocks from start to finish were Poseidon
Concepts Corp. (PSN.TO) and Blackberry (BB.TO), although they had
different experiences. PSN fell 70% and hit record lows after
providing an update with respect to the review and assessment being
conducted by the company's Special Committee of the Board of
Directors and its business and operations. It said the first,
second and third quarter 2012 financial statements will be restated
and the company advised investors that they should no longer rely
on the Financial Statements as well as the corresponding
Management's Discussion & Analysis.
Blackberry recovered after falling 4% early in the session to
end it up 7.5%.
Multiple sources reported Jim Balsillie has sold his 5% stake in
Research In Motion, the company he was co-CEO of and which recently
changed its name to Blackberry in recognition of its iconic
smartphone. A U.S. regulatory filing dated Thursday was cited.
The day also saw the release of a series of mixed earnings
reports from big resources companies.
Encana (ECA.TO), which Bloomberg noted has declined 39% in the
past two years and is seeking a new chief executive officer, lost
6.5% today as it battles to lift sales of oil and liquids, which
would bring in more revenues than it gets for gas sales.
Kinross Gold (K.TO) and Barrick Gold (ABX.TO) both made gains
albeit from positions near year lows. While their results were
okay, they both did announce masssive writedowns.
"Oil futures climbed Thursday, holding their ground above $97 a
barrel, finding support after a drop in weekly U.S. jobless claims
but with gains capped by strength in the dollar," MarketWatch
reported. It said: "March crude tacked on 30 cents, or 0.3%, to
settle at $97.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Natural gas futures, however, dropped after a decline in last
week's U.S. natural-gas supplies came in a bit smaller than
expected. March natural gas fell 14 cents, or 4.3%, at $3.16 per
million British thermal units, its lowest since Jan. 9."
"Gold futures fell Thursday to settle at their lowest level in
nearly six months, with a Group of 20 nations meeting at the end of
the week expected to provide some indication on currency policy,"
MarketWatch reported. It said: "April gold shed $9.60, or 0.6%, to
settle at $1,635.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York
Mercantile Exchange. That was the lowest settlement price for a
most-active contract since Aug. 20, according to FactSet data."