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Reuters Canada Business Summary

05/09/08

Job market rebounds as election fever hits

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's job market rebounded slightly in August from heavy job losses in August, easing fears of a sharper-than-expected economic downturn on the eve of a federal election campaign to be announced this weekend. Canadian employers resumed hiring last month in a modest recovery from heavy job losses in July, adding 15,200 to the payrolls on a full-time basis, mainly in the private sector, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Stocks drop 200 points on jobs data, oil

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock market index extended its losses on Friday as disappointing U.S. jobs data and falling oil prices weighed on the market. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 200.13 points, or 1.6 percent, to 12,614.01.

Purchasing activity up, but at slower pace

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian purchasing activity rose at a slower pace in August, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index showed on Friday, suggesting the country is feeling pressure from the U.S. economic slowdown. The index, a joint project of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada and the Richard Ivey School of Business, fell to 51.5 in August from 65.5 in July. That missed market expectations for a reading of 63.0.

Canada bank CEOs see more credit crisis uncertainty

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Fallout from the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent credit crunch has left nagging regulatory uncertainties and will prompt big changes in global banking, Canadian bank executives said on Friday. The dramatic impact on the global banking system will include smaller balance sheets for investment banks, Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Gord Nixon said at a round-table discussion about the industry.

Tembec asks U.S. to recognize recapitalization

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A unit of Canadian forestry firm Tembec Inc filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York on Thursday as a procedural step to implement a debt restructuring already approved in Canada. Chapter 15 covers cross-border insolvencies and allows U.S. courts to recognize a foreign proceeding.

Oil falls $2 to 5-month low on economic gloom

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than $2 on Friday to a fresh five-month low on flagging demand in the United States and other consumer nations, extending crude's losses to 8 percent this week. The market shrugged off continued production problems in the United States in the wake of Hurricane Gustav, which left some 25 percent of the nation's crude production and 10 percent of its refining idled and in slow recovery.

Air Canada, WestJet August load factors at record

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Canada's two biggest airlines said on Thursday they flew fuller planes last month, despite higher costs for passengers because of fuel surcharges. Air Canada and WestJet Airlines Ltd said their August load factors, a measure of how much available space is sold to passengers, rose to records for the month.

Zinc producer settles suit over Alaskan mine waste

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Zinc producer Teck Cominco Ltd has agreed to pay up to $120 million for a wastewater pipeline to settle a lawsuit by Inupiat Eskimo villagers who claimed mine pollution was fouling their drinking water and the fish that are a staple of their diet. The settlement, terms of which were filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage on Wednesday, ensures that waste from the Red Dog mine in Alaska will bypass the river that is the water and food source for residents of the village of Kivalina, said Luke Cole, the attorney representing the villagers.

Alaska gas project hailed by Palin still embryonic

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A long-delayed natural gas pipeline championed by Gov. Sarah Palin that would carry supplies from Alaska to Canada and then to the lower 48 states exists in concept only and is years away from fruition. The vice presidential hopeful, in her speech Wednesday to the Republican National Convention, said she fought to bring about "the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history" to bolster America's energy security.

Canadian dollar boosted by August jobs rebound

TORONTO (Reuters) - Stronger-than-expected Canadian jobs figures helped lift the country's currency from overnight weakness versus the U.S. dollar on Friday, while bond prices remained higher but off earlier levels. At 8:15 a.m. (1215 GMT), the Canadian unit was at C$1.0669 to the U.S. dollar, or 93.73 U.S. cents, up from C$1.0695 to the U.S. dollar, or 93.50 U.S. cents, at Thursday's close.

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