Stockhouse @ the Bell: Stocks rise on home sales

Today on Stockhouse

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William Patalon III of Money Morning offers a ‘better’ way to play gold than waiting for $5,000.

While Keith Schaefer explains what the U.S.-Canadian gas spread means for your energy portfolio.

Top Bullboards post: “Make no mistake, Avanti is clearly in the domain of that rare 10% that others' can only dream about. If you do not believe it, please re-visit the linked article that addresses their NAV model: https://www.avantimining.com/i/pdf
/Avanti_Mining_Resource_Intelligence.pdf Avanti's life is tied to RCF and the recent announcement of the latter taking 897,000 shares in lieu of cash for interest on the original loan that made it possible for Avanti to acquire this world class property - makes perfect sense.” From Auggie2 on the Avanti Mining (TSX: V.AVT, Stock Forum) board.

Top Bullboard: 01 Communique Laboratory (TSX: T.ONE, Stock Forum) received the most reads and posts on a day its share price surged more than 17%.

Top blog: prospero1776 presents a discussion on whether uranium's three-year bear market is over in the Hills of Judea blog.

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

Word on Wall Street

"There's been too much negativism priced in and we're coming off that," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist at Financial Network Investment Corp, in an interview with Associated Press. "Earnings reports are definitely helping."

Today In The Markets

TSX posts small gain following bright U.S. home sales data; dollar moves up

DJIA	10,525.43	+100.81
NASDAQ	2,296.43	+26.96
S&P500	1,115.01	+12.35
S&P/TSX	11,746.07	+31.86
S&P/TSX Venture	1,403.46	+8.48

TORONTO-NEW YORK (The Canadian Press) - The Toronto stock market posted a small gain Monday after U.S. home sales numbers came in much better than expected for the month of June, an encouraging — if not overly inspirational — sign of economic recovery.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 31.86 points to 11,746.07.

This followed a report from the U.S. Commerce Department that sales of new homes jumped 24 per cent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 330,000 — significantly higher than the 6.7 per cent increase that economists had forecast.

The TSX Venture Exchange was up 8.48 points to 1,403.46.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 100.81 points to 10,525.43, moving the index back into positive territory for the year. The Nasdaq composite index was up 26.96 points at 2,296.43 while the S&P 500 index gained 12.35 points to 1,115.01.

Please click here for the complete U.S. and Canadian market summaries.

After-Hours News

Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR, Stock Forum)
Fluor Corp. announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Net earnings were US$157 million or 87 cents a share, compared to $169 million or 93 cents in the same period last year. Revenue was $5.2 billion in the second quarter of 2010, just under last year’s $5.3 billion.

Swift Resources Inc. (TSX: V.SWR, Stock Forum)
Swift Resources Inc. has received analytical results from a June 2010 rock sampling program on its Amazing Grace property, near Castlegar in southern B.C. Samples from the recent program include 29.2 oz gold per tonne, and 12 oz. gold per tonne from the BW showing. The BW showing is an unexplored vein target, which is untested by trenching or drilling, or by any other recent exploration methods. It is a high priority for further work, the company said.