Today on Stockhouse
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Steven Saville explains why long-term predictions for the gold price are meaningless.
This as Karim Rahemtulla of Investment U says forget natural gas naysayers, you can profit in this sector.
Top Bullboards post: “Looks like the zones are coming in as per prognosis. The 1st indication of gas would be some lightening up of the drilling fluid and gas in the mud tanks/degasser and cuttings as indicated. This is very positive. They have encountered gas. Just how much and flow rates will need to be determined later, but this is a positive 1st step. As long as drilling remains on schedule and on track, things are looking good at this stage.” From sand devil on the Transeuro Energy (TSX: V.TSU, Stock Forum) board.
Top Bullboard:Wi-LAN Inc. (TSX: T.WIN, Stock Forum) received the most reads and the second-most posts on a day its shares slipped more than 8%.
Top blog: MRSPEC is bullish on this uranium junior with a promising gold property in the Day trade or buy and hold blog.
For news about small stocks that made big moves in Wednesday’s trading, please read the Stockhouse Canadian Small and Micro-cap Stock Report.
Word on Wall Street
"Banks are under pressure right now because they are not making money in places where you'd expect to see trading gains," said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial, in an interview with Associated Press.
| Selected expected U.S. earnings releases for Thursday |
| (Consensus Estimates vs. Last Year) |
|
| Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) |
Q4 |
$0.11 vs. $1.52 |
|
| Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) |
Q4 |
$2.88 vs. $2.15 |
|
| Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) |
Q1 |
$0.54 vs. $0.43 |
|
| Rockwell Collins (NYSE: COL) |
Q1 |
$0.87 vs. $0.76 |
|
| TrueBlue (NYSE: TBI) |
Q4 |
$0.12 vs. $0.05 |
|
|
|
Today In The Markets
TSX closes lower as oil declines, copper backs away from record high
|
| DJIA |
11,825.29 |
-12.64 |
 |
|
| NASDAQ |
2,725.36 |
-40.49 |
|
|
| S&P500 |
1,281.92 |
-13.10 |
|
|
| S&P/TSX |
13,439.04 |
-120.16 |
|
|
| S&P/TSX Venture |
2,285.02 |
-7.49 |
|
|
Toronto & New York (The Canadian Press) - The Toronto stock market closed sharply lower Wednesday as copper prices retreated from record levels while investors considered a mixed bag of U.S. earnings reports.
The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 120.16 points to 13,439.04 while the TSX Venture Exchange declined 7.49 points to 2,285.02.
The Dow Jones industrials moved 12.64 points lower to 11,825.29.
The Nasdaq composite index lost 40.49 points to 2,725.36 while the S&P 500 index was down 13.1 points at 1,281.92.
Please click here for the complete U.S. and Canadian market summaries.
After-Hours News
Sallie Mae (NYSE: SLM, Stock Forum)
Sallie Mae, the leading financial services company in the U.S. specializing in education, announced its results for the fourth quarter ended December 31st, 2010. On a GAAP basis, fourth-quarter 2010 net income was $447 million or 84 cents a share, compared to year ago income of $309 million or 52 cents. Origins of private education loans were $413 million, up from $381 million in the year-ago quarter.
Terraco Gold Corp. (TSX: V.TEN, Stock Forum)
Terraco Gold Corp. and Western Standard Metals Ltd. (TSX: V.WSM, Stock Forum) announced that Western has received final approval from the Supreme Court of British Columbia regarding the previously announced plan of arrangement to merge with Terraco. The arrangement remains subject to certain conditions, including the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Completion of the arrangement is expected to occur on or shortly after January 22, 2011