Roger Biduk - Commodities Hammer Bay Street

Roger Biduk writes:

The Toronto stock market shed more than 200 points Thursday as commodity stocks were hammered by lower metal and oil prices.
The S&P/TSX composite index surrendered 239.14 points to finish the session at 8,057.82.
The TSX Venture Exchange was down 14.22 points to 697.86 .

Analysts downplayed the impact of the power struggle in Ottawa on the financial markets.

The CDN$ closed down 1.54 cents to 78.24 cents U.S., after the governor general agreed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's request to shut down Parliament until he can present a budget next month.

BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) was a rare bright spot, up $1.05 to $22.95 after Bloomberg reported that private equity firms are proposing to buy a minority stake in the telecom, rather than all of it.
The report comes a week before a Dec. 11 deadline to complete a deal with a group led by the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan that appears all but officially dead.

Crude oil tumbled $3.12 to US$43.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange - its lowest close since January 2005 on demand worries
The TSX energy sector fell seven per cent. EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) fell $3.06 to $49.82 and Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) faltered $6.37 to $41.

Base metals stocks gave back ground as copper sagged 8.5 cents to US$1.4695 a pound.
The base metals sector tumbled 7.25 per cent with Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX:TCK.B) down 30 cents to $4.05.

The TSX financial sector closed down after TD Bank (TSX:TD), CIBC (TSX:CM) and National Bank (TSX:NA) reported earnings. The banks were hit by credit losses and provisions, but maintained their healthy dividends.
Among the banks, TD closed down 58 cents to $41.92 after its fourth-quarter net income came in at $1.01 billion, off from $1.09 billion a year ago.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (TSX:CM) earned $436 million, down from $884 million, but its shares gained 88 cents to $46.18. National Bank shares slipped $2.27 to $35.55 after fourth-quarter earnings of $70 million, up from a year-ago loss of $175 million.
Royal Bank (TSX:RY), which reports Friday, declined $1.08 to $37.17.

Also reporting was Bombardier Inc. (TSX:BBD.B) with a summer-quarter profit of US$245 million, up from $91 million a year ago. The global plane and train maker's revenue ran up eight per cent to $4.57 billion. Its shares rose three cents to $3.92.
Among shares trading higher on the Toronto market, George Weston Ltd. (TSX:WN) rose $2.51 to $59, as subsidiary Loblaw (TSX:L) ran ahead $1.50 to $33.50. The TSX consumer staples group overall gained per cent.
Paper producer AbitibiBowater Inc. (TSX:ABH) declined three cents to 60 cents after announcing it is cutting 1,100 jobs as it closes its newsprint mill in Grand Falls, N.L., and a plant in Tennessee.

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