subject: August 2010 Canadian Penny Stocks To Watch [print this page] Traders may turn cautious ahead of Friday's monthly employment report from the U.S. and Canada. On Wednesday, the S&P/TSX Composite Index rose to its three-week, adding 62.45 points or 0.53% to 11,845.05.
Crude for September delivery was down $0.54 to $81.93 a barrel. Yesterday, the EIA said gasoline inventories were up by 729,000 barrels, while crude oil inventories decreased by 2.8 million barrels to 358.0 million barrels in the week ended July 30.
Elsewhere, the price of gold is edging up amid a weak U.S. dollar. Gold for December delivery, the most actively traded contract, added $5.80 to $1,201.70 an ounce.
In corporate news from Canada, independent energy company Canadian Natural Resources reported improved second quarter net earnings of C$0.63 per share compared to restated earnings of C$0.59 per share in the comparable period.
Telecommunications company BCE Inc. said its second-quarter net earnings improved to C$0.77 per share from C$0.58 per share a year earlier. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4575 per common share and announced that the annual common share dividend will increase by 5% to $1.83 per share.
Gold miner Kinross Gold reported second-quarter adjusted net earnings of $0.16 per share, up from $0.12 per share, for the same period last year. Analysts were expecting the company to report earnings of $0.16 per share. The company declared a dividend of $0.05 per share and announced the appointment of Brant Hinze as Executive VP & COO.
Gold producer Yamana Gold reported higher second quarter revenues of $351.37 million compared to $236.71 million in the year ago quarter and announced a 33% hike in its quarterly dividend at $0.02 per share.
Life and health insurance services provider Sun Life Financial reported lower second quarter net income of C$0.37 per share compared to C$1.05 per share in the year ago quarter.
Home, auto and business insurance company Intact Financial Corp. reported higher second quarter net income of C$1.04 per share, compared to C$0.62 per share, for the same period last year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of C$0.34 per share.
Engine and fuel injection systems company Westport Innovations reported a narrower first quarter net loss of $0.21 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.25 per share in the prior year quarter.
Airlines operator Air Canada slipped into the red in second quarter, reported a net loss of C$0.72 per share, compared to net income of C$1.55 per share in the year ago quarter.
In economic news from Canada, Statistics Canada said the value of overall building permits totaled C$6.6 billion in June, up 6.5% from May and a 24.9% increase from June 2009. Economists were expecting an increase of only 1.8%, following the 10.8% decline reported in May.
From the U.S., the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims rose to 479,000 in the week ended July 31 from the previous week's revised figured of 460,000. The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 455,000 from the 457,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Elsewhere, the European stocks were hovering in positive terrain. As widely expected, the Bank of England has left its bench mark interest rates at a record low of 0.5%, while the ECB also opted to stay pat on rates.
Overnight, Asian markets ended mixed despite forecast-beating earnings from car maker Toyota and chip maker UMC. While the Chinese and Indian markets ended lower, the markets in Japan and Australia closed higher.
