TSX hopes to ride commodities

Higher commodity prices could lead Canadian stocks to some early gains on Friday morning.

Soon after Friday's opening bell, the S&P/TSX Composite index was 8.66 points higher to 11,542.03.

Crude oil edged up after it had erased most of an early slump yesterday. Gold rose in price and silver added 37.5 cents to $17.50 U.S.

However, in corporate news, Agrium announced that it expects third quarter 2009 earnings to be 90% to 95% below last year's third-quarter results, in line with results previously reported from industry peers for the third quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.79 U.S. per share for the third-quarter.

Meanwhile, TransForce reported that its third-quarter net income was $17.0 million, or $0.19 per share, compared to $26.5 million, or $0.31 per share, in the third quarter of 2008.

Celestica announced that its third-quarter net loss was $600,000 U.S., compared with net earnings of $32.1 million U.S. reported for the year-ago period. On a per-share basis, earnings broke even for the quarter, compared with $0.14 U.S. per share reported last year.

Shaw Communications reported fourth-quarter net income of $124 million or $0.29 per share, compared to $132.38 million or $0.31 per share for the same quarter last year.

Whiterock Real Estate Investment Trust announced that it has entered into a binding contract to acquire 460 Two Nations Crossing, located in Fredericton, for $9.7 million before closing costs.

The Canadian dollar slipped 0.26 cents to 95.18 cents U.S.

ON BAYSTREET

Of the 14 TSX subgroups, eight were lower to begin the session. Industrials were off 0.6%, while consumer discretionaries and health-care faded 0.4% each.

Gold led the half-dozen gainers, up 1.6%, global base metals, ahead 1.1%, while metals and mining stocks progressed 1%.

The TSX Venture Exchange pointed up 5.30 points to 1,333.49, while the Nasdaq Canada index moved ahead 1.14 points to 715.57.

ON WALLSTREET

In New York, stocks fizzled at the open Friday, as investors reacted to better-than-expected results from Microsoft and upbeat comments about the economy from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

The Dow Jones Industrials skidded 5.44 points to 10,075.87. The S&P 500 index stepped back 0.22 points to 1,092.69. The Nasdaq composite index gained back 16.98 points to 2,182.27.

Wall Street rallied Thursday on earnings optimism after blue-chip firms including AT&T and 3M posted results that topped estimates.

Microsoft posted quarterly results Friday, with revenue of $12.9 billion U.S. and earnings of 40 cents per share. This beat analysts' expectations of $12.3 billion U.S. revenue and earnings of 32 cents U.S. per share, according to Thomson Reuters consensus.

The results came a day after the tech giant debuted its new Windows 7 operating system, which is widely expected to help lift PC sales over the next 18 months.

Aircraft manufacturer Honeywell reported third-quarter sales of $7.7 billion U.S., down from $9.3 billion U.S. in the year-ago quarter, with earnings of 80 cents U.S. per share, down from 97 cents U.S. a share in the year earlier quarter.

Whirlpool, a manufacturer of refrigerators and other appliances, reported a 47% drop in third-quarter earnings to $1.15 U.S. per share, and net sales of $4.5 billion U.S.

Late Thursday, Amazon reported a 69% surge in third-quarter profit, helped by sales of the Kindle e-reader. Total revenue grew 28% to $5.45 billion U.S.

Also on Thursday, the credit card company American Express reported that net income fell 21% in the third quarter to $640 million U.S., or 53 cents U.S. per share, compared to the year-ago quarter.

Late Thursday, Dole Food Co. said it raised $446 million U.S. through an initial public offering, after being in business for more than 150 years as a private company. Dole priced its IPO at $12.50 U.S. per share, below its expected range of $13 to $15 U.S. per share. The company starts trading on the NYSE Friday under the ticker DOLE.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was speaking Friday morning at the Bank of Boston's economic conference. In his opening comments, Bernanke said he saw "the financial turmoil abating."

The Fed on Thursday proposed a broad overhaul of pay policies at 28 of the largest U.S. banks.

On the economic front, a report on existing home sales was due out at 10 a.m. ET. Sales are expected to have risen to a 5.35-million unit annual rate from a 5.10-million unit.

Treasury prices fell, raising the yields for the benchmark 10-year note to 3.47% from Thursday's 3.42%. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The price of a barrel of oil tailed off 51 cents to $80.64 U.S.

Gold prices zoomed $8 to $1,067 U.S. an ounce.