Earnings win direction

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Earnings win direction

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If the stock market had been a battle zone on Wednesday, with crummy earnings butting against slightly better than expected U.S. economic data, the earnings won the day.


The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 7956.66, down 121.70 points, or 1.5 per cent - after moving in a tight, though mostly positive trading range until the early afternoon. The broader S&P 500 closed at 832.23, down 6.28 points, or 0.8 per cent.


Financials were mostly lower, with Bank of America Corp. falling 11.3 per cent to a new multi-year low and Wells Fargo & Co. falling 5.8 per cent on renewed uncertainty over the Obama administration's big fix for the sector, and whether it will work.


But high-profile consumer stocks that had reported their quarterly results were the big targets of the selloff. Kraft Foods Inc. fell 9.2 per cent after it reported a 72 per cent drop in fourth quarter earnings that missed expectations. Walt Disney Co. fell 7.9 per cent after its quarterly earnings dipped 32 per cent, also coming in below expectations.


In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index - which had missed out on the late-day gains by U.S. stocks on Tuesday - enjoyed the opposite problem on Wednesday, closing at 8693.09, up 64.46 points, or 0.8 per cent.


Commodity producers were the main reasons for the gains, even though moves by gold and crude oil were hardly eyebrow-raising. Gold hit $902.20 (U.S.) an ounce, up $9.70. Crude oil fell 46 cents to $40.32 a barrel. Still, Barrick Gold Corp. rose 3.7 per cent, Goldcorp Inc. rose 4.9 per cent and Suncor Energy Inc. rose 3.3 per cent. As well, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. rose 4.7 per cent.


Meanwhile, financials were weak, with Bank of Montreal falling 3 per cent and Toronto-Dominion Bank falling 1.6 per cent.

Copyright 2001 The Globe and Mail

QEC Building A Base For A Run To 2.00+

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Jan. 12, 2009) -



Questerre Energy Corporation ("Questerre" or the "Company") (TSX:QEC)(OSLO:QEC) reported today that drilling operations have been successfully completed on the St. David well in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, Quebec.

Drilled to a target depth of 1995m on schedule and budget, St. David is the third well in the four-well farm-in program. The well has been cased as a potential gas producer. St. David was recently logged to evaluate the Utica and Lorraine shale/siltstone zones and the Trenton Black-River group. An analysis of these logs is ongoing to select prospective intervals for stimulation and testing.

Subject to equipment availability, completion and testing will commence after spring break-up. The Company expects the operator will spud the fourth and final well in the program, St. Edouard, in late February.

Questerre also reported on the status of the La Visitation and Gentilly wells in the Lowlands. Completion operations with multiple fracs on the recently drilled La Visitation well are currently underway. On the Gentilly well, the operational issues surrounding the packer have been resolved in order to allow testing of the Lorraine to resume shortly. Questerre anticipates preliminary results from these wells will be available during the second quarter.

Michael Binnion, President and Chief Executive Officer of Questerre, commented, "Drilling results on St. David were very positive as we saw promising gas shows in the Utica and Lorraine." Mr. Binnion also commented, "The pilot programs in the Lowlands are rapidly ramping up with several operations underway simultaneously. All these operations are designed to provide extensive technical data critical to assessing the commerciality of the play. We are very pleased that the operator does not compromise in this regard. We believe we remain on track to have an adequate sample of quality results to make a preliminary assessment of the commerciality of the Quebec shales in 2009."

Questerre is a Calgary-based independent resource company actively engaged in the exploration, development and acquisition of high-impact exploration and development oil and gas projects in Canada.

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