Stockhouse @ the Bell: Dow falls on earnings concerns; TSX rises

Today on Stockhouse

Your opinion matters. Submit an article to Stockhouse today at submissions@stockhouse.com. Submission guidelines can be found here.

Steven Saville notes that the Inflation-deflation debate favors falling prices.

Brent Cook on which junior miners could outperform: Part I, from The Gold Report.

Make money trading gold, stocks, and oil, says Chris Vermeulen.

Call buyer bets on Viacom, explains Jud Pyle.

J.W. Cotton discusses GE and other stock picks for Wednesday.

Buzz on the Boards stopped by the Grande Cache Coal Corporation (TSX: T.GCE, Stock Forum) and Active Control Technology (TSX: V.ACT, Stock Forum) Bullboards.

Top Bullboards post:“I'm not a huge conspiracy theorist, nor do I generally read the COMEX manipulation theories, but something has to give with the POG the last week. All the pundits (most of them at least) are touting physical gold and gold shares in times like these. Every report I've read is predicting gold to head north as the pieces are in place for a further run to new highs (fear, negative surprises, geopolitical events, anticipated future inflation driven by expansionary money supply), YET the POG seems to have a lid on it. Perhaps my timelines are too short and expectations too high, but something seems amiss when I think we should be well into a major run on gold. Who knows, maybe it all starts today, maybe not [sic].” – From yorkmemo on the Horizons BetaPro S&P TSX Global Gold Bull Plus ETF (TSX: T.HGU, Stock Forum) Bullboard.

Top Bullboard:The Nova Chemicals Corp. (TSX: T.NCX, Stock Forum) Bullboard was one of the most posted on Wednesday.

Top blog:LexLuthor2 discussed some portfolio holdings on the Lex Corp. blog Wednesday.

For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.

Word on Wall Street

"The real catalyst for the market is the rhetoric surrounding the stimulus plan and the bank bailout and how that will be structured. On both fronts, the more we hear the more we like," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co. told MarketWatch.

Today In The Markets

Commodities lift TSX; N.Y. lower on disappointing earnings

DJIA	7,956.66	-121.70
NASDAQ	1,515.05	-1.25
S&P500	832.23	-6.28
S&P/TSX	8,693.09	+64.46
S&P/TSX Venture	890.05	+20.80

Find out how to get this data on your BlackBerry

TORONTO, NEW YORK (CP) - Energy and base metals stocks sent the Toronto stock market higher Wednesday.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index, which surged more than 150 points late in the morning, finished the session up 64.46 points to 8,693.09. The TSX Venture Exchange climbed 20.8 points to 890.05 and the Canadian dollar moved down 0.12 cent to 81.17 cents US.

New York's Dow Jones industrials dropped 121.7 points to 7,956.66. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 1.25 points to 1,515.05, while the S&P 500 was off 6.28 points to 832.23 as economic data indicated the pace of contraction in the service sector is declining.

Please click here for current U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V)
After Wednesday's close, the payment card giant said first-quarter net income came in at $574 million, or 74 cents per class A share, up 35% from a year ago when it made $424 million, or 55 cents a share. Adjusted for the effect of taxes, restructuring and purchase amortization, Visa said net income for the latest quarter was $599 million, or 78 cents per class A common share. Analysts expected 67 cents a share. Net operating revenue was $1.7 billion, up 17% from the same period a year ago.

Seacliff Construction (TSX: T.SDC)
The company, after Wednesday's closing bell, announced that Dominion Construction, its construction contracting division, has been awarded two major institutional construction management contracts in British Columbia worth a combined $44 million.