North American stocks ended down on Monday

Ford revs

RTGAM


North American stocks ended down on Monday on renewed concerns about the stability of the financial system and the start of earnings season - but managed to rebound substantially from their lows earlier in the day.


The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 7975.85, down 41.74 points, or 0.5 per cent. Earlier, it had been down about 155 points. The broader S&P 500 closed at 835.42, down 7.08 points, or 0.8 per cent, marking a similar improvement toward the end of the trading day.


Financials were weak, after a downbeat analyst report from Mike Mayo of  Calyon Securities. Citigroup Inc. fell 4.6 per cent and JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell 3.7 per cent. Alcoa Inc., which reports its first quarter results on Tuesday, fell 3.2 per cent.


However, there were winners. Defence contractors did well after the U.S. Defence Secretary outlined a plan to shift priorities toward unconventional conflicts. Lockheed Martin Corp. rose 8.9 per cent on government plans to cut work on the F-22 fighter jet but buy more of the F-35s.


Ford Motor Co. surged 16 per cent after the struggling auto maker managed to restructure its debt, reducing its obligations by $10-billion (U.S.) using a combination of cash and shares and cutting its interest costs by $500-million a year. General Motors Corp. rose 8.1 per cent.


In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index closed at 9016.17, down 49.59 points, or 0.6 per cent. Earlier in the day, the index had been down by about 145 points on weakness in energy stocks, gold miners and financials.


Among the banks, Royal Bank of Canada finished the day down 0.7 per cent and Toronto-Dominion Bank fell 2 per cent. However, insurers did well: Manulife Financial Corp. rose 1.9 per cent and Sun Life Financial Inc. rose 0.8 per cent.


Commodity producers were generally weaker after the price of crude oil fell to $51.05 (U.S.) a barrel, down $1.46; gold fell to $872.80 an ounce, down $24.50. Among energy stocks, Canadian Oil Sands Trust fell 1.6 per cent, but Talisman Energy Inc. rose 1.8 per cent. Among gold producers, Barrick Gold Corp. fell 4.6 per cent and Goldcorp Inc. fell 1.8 per cent.


Meanwhile, Research In Motion Ltd. finished with another fine gain after it surged about 20 per cent on Friday following and upbeat quarterly report. On Monday, the stock rose another 7.2 per cent, contributing more than 30 points to the benchmark index.

Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail