Opening Bell: TSX fails to join global stock party

Jason Alden/Bloomberg

The Toronto Stock Exchange failed to post the strong gains recorded by its U.S. counterparts Friday.

The Opening Bell is our daily snapshot of the stock markets, including a wrap up of the must-read business stories for the day.

The TSX sputtered Monday morning as flat commodity prices led to a weak open, sinking expectations the index would start the day with the type of strong gains recorded by U.S. markets on Friday.

While Wall Street closed the week with its best weekly performance in two years, negligible  commodity price gains led to a relatively flat open for the TSX. Crude futures, gained only 0.12% a barrel to US$95.05. Gold posted a similarly modest gain, rising 0.8% to US$1,494.40 an ounce.

Here is a look at what the markets were doing just after the opening bell on Monday, July 4:

The Dow Jones was closed for July 4.
The S&P 500 was closed for July 4.
The Nasdaq was closed for July 4.
The S&P/TSX gained 5.20 points, or 0.04%, to 13,301.29

Here are the stories that will be impacting trading throughout the day:

S&P warning adds default threat to Greece bailout

Greece would likely be in default if it follows a debt rollover plan pushed by French banks, S&P warned on Monday, deepening the pain of a bailout that one European official said will cost Athens sovereignty and jobs. http://natpo.st/lECXre

Factory prices fall in May

Slack global demand for industrial metals dampened Canadian producer prices in May, Statistics Canada said on Monday. Industrial product prices edged down 0.2% from April, below the flat reading predicted by analysts. http://natpo.st/iFYCUU

Morgan Stanley lifts emerging market outlook

Emerging-market investors should raise their stock holdings, Morgan Stanley said, citing “attractive” valuations and the prospects of a “stronger” second-half performance for Asian and developing-nation shares. http://natpo.st/lqnXP2

Yuan hits all-time high vs. dollar

The yuan hit a record high against the dollar on Monday after the People’s Bank of China fixed a historically strong mid-point, but the market remained cautious about the pace of yuan appreciation. http://natpo.st/kQDpHx

Sun Life CEO to retire

Sun Life Financial Inc. said Monday that CEO Donald Stewart is retiring as of Nov. 30. Mr. Stewart will be replaced by Dean Connor, the company’s chief operating officer, who has been promoted to president, effective immediately. As of Dec. 1, Connor will hold the title of president and CEO. http://natpo.st/jYTxBT

Also, be sure to check out our in-depth overview of Canadian stocks to watch, analyst recommendations and other market advice: http://natpo.st/jHkD2z

Most Canadian small businesses have NO global ambitions

Largely sheltered from the global recession, 69% of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Canada say they have no plans to ever enter global markets, according to new data released Monday.

The Angus Reid poll, commissioned by UPS Canada, surveyed owners of Canadian SMEs whose reluctance to pursue export markets may have insulated them from some of the harsher effects of the recent recession.

Sixty-three per cent of SMEs say foreign competition has had no impact at all on their business, 54% say they have been unaffected by the rising loonie and 69% say they have not had to alter their strategy to account for the rising cost of fuel.

"While that may seem like a benefit at the moment, many of these businesses are limiting their growth potential and setting themselves up for competitive disadvantage in the long term," says Mike Tierney, president of UPS Canada.

The poll suggests small- and medium-sized businesses may feel left behind by the federal government's investment in export-oriented areas, with 57% saying the government's decisions in this area focus on benefitting large corporations.

However, owners of SMEs are divided on where the government should invest to drive exports: 39% say new or computer technology, 35% say clean/green technology, 31% say natural resources, 30% say post-secondary education and training and 21% say traditional manufacturing (respondents could pick more than one).

While SMEs are wary of entering global markets themselves, they increasingly believe Canadian exporters must diversify their export markets beyond the United States: 85% are concerned about the country's rising national debt and 60% say exporters should seek other options immediately.

The poll surveyed 546 randomly selected Canadian adults who own small- to medium-sized enterprise and are Angus Reid Forum panellists. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.19%.

Sony to complete global resumption of PlayStation Network

IDG News Service - Sony will fully restore PlayStation Network service to users in Japan this week, ending a two-and-a-half month suspension of service, and bringing to a close an embarrassing incident that began with the largest known loss of customer information by a company.

Users in Japan will be able to access all functions of the PlayStation Store and Qriocity services from July 6, Sony said on Monday. The PlayStation Store is an online shopping mall offering games and video to PlayStation users, while the Qriocity service offers video content to Internet-linked consumer electronics devices like televisions.

The services were suspended worldwide on April 20 when Sony detected a sophisticated intrusion had hit its data center in San Diego.

An investigation established that attackers had managed to bypass three firewalls to steal data on all 77 million registered accounts. The stolen data included user names, e-mail addresses, login IDs and passwords. It was originally feared that millions of credit card numbers had also been leaked, but Sony later said it was unable to find any evidence that the credit card database was accessed.

Sony asked users to change passwords, and to date it says there have been no reports of unauthorized credit card usage linked to the attack.

The attack left Sony reeling and the services were offline for weeks while the company rebuilt its security system. Sony reintroduced service in stages, with online gaming first being switched on for users in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand in the middle of May. That followed for users in Asia in June, and PlayStation Store service was subsequently restored for users in all regions except Japan.

The PlayStation Store remained offline in Japan while Sony discussed the data breach with authorities and briefed them on its new security system, said Satoshi Fukuoka, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo. With progress made in those discussions, Sony is now able to resume service.

When that happens on Wednesday, the service will be fully restored globally to the same level as before April's attack.

The attack and Sony's response to it is estimated to cost the company around ¥14 billion (US$170 million) this financial year, it previously said. That includes the cost of calling in several computer security companies to investigate the attack, the rebuild of its security system, identity theft monitoring for users in some countries, and the offer of several free games to users.

Martyn Williams covers Japan and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Martyn on Twitter at @martyn_williams. Martyn's e-mail address is martyn_williams@idg.com

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.