As you pointed out, strength in Canadian banking may have contributed to today's rise:
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November 19, 1998
Canadian Stocks
Earnings Hearten Bank Stocks
TORONTO -- Stocks climbed Thursday, heartened by the fourth-quarter earnings results of Toronto Dominion Bank and an improving outlook for the global economy.
The Toronto Stock Exchange 300 composite index rose 97.43, or 1.5%, to 6439.62. Trading volume reached 111.9 million shares worth 1.77 billion Canadian dollars, from Wednesday's total of 129.7 million shares worth C$1.45 billion. Advancing issues outpaced decliners, 501 to 491, and 12 of the 14 stock groups rose.
The banking group jumped 2.6%. The Dominion Bank rose C$1.35 to C$46.40, after reporting better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter.
"There had been a great deal of pessimism about the bank earnings," said Gordon Higgins, vice president of Canadian equities at investment counselor Elliot & Page. Toronto Dominion's results eased some of these fears, he said.
Indeed, Royal Bank of Canada rose C$1.90 to C$71.70, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce climbed C$1.05 to C$32.40, and Bank of Nova Scotia gained C$0.50 to C$32.10.
The rise in the banks as well as the market's overall gain more generally reflected growing optimism about a recovery in the global economy, in the wake of a pact between Japan's ruling liberal democratic party and the opposition liberal party to possibly form a coalition government. It's hoped such a move would ensure the passage of the 197.3 billion U.S. dollars economic stimulus package recently submitted to Japan's parliament, analysts said.
Toronto's industrial products sector recorded the biggest gain, surged 2.6%. In the sector, networking company Newbridge Networks jumped C$3.75 to C$40.35, after rising C$3.10 Wednesday on rumors of the company signing a big contract with Global One.
Newbridge competitor Northern Telecom, also performed well, rising C$2.85 to C$73.50. Both stocks seemed to benefit from the surge in U.S. technology issues.
Northern Telecom's strong performance also helped BCE, a telecommunications conglomerate and big shareholder in Northern Telecom, rise C$1.60 to C$54.10. In turn, the utility group of which BCE is the most heavily weighted stock rose 1.78%.
The gold group, which had posted some big gains earlier this week, succumbed to profit-taking and fell 0.77%. Similarly, the bullion price on the Comex division of the New York Stock Exchange fell US$2 to US$295.80 an ounce.
In the group, Barrick Gold fell C$0.15 to C$33.25, and Placer Dome ended unchanged at C$25.30.
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A couple articles highlighting John Sidgmore's speech at Comdex:
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November 19, 1998
Comdex 1998
MCI WorldCom to Offer DSL Service
Nationwide, Challenging Baby Bells
By STEPHANIE N. MEHTA
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MCI WorldCom Inc. said it will launch a nationwide, ultrafast Internet-access-service via traditional copper telephone lines.
The service, known as Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL, allows customers to surf the Internet at speeds several times faster than they can using conventional computer modems. MCI WorldCom said it will sell the service directly to small businesses and Internet-service providers. The Internet companies, in turn, will sell the product to consumers.
MCI WorldCom's plan, unveiled Wednesday at the Comdex computer-industry trade show in Las Vegas, helps validate DSL technology. Despite stepped-up efforts by the Baby Bell telephone companies to deploy such services, digital-subscriber lines still trail cable modems as the broadband-access medium of choice among small companies and consumers.
"To date, we haven't been really optimistic on DSL because a big national telecommunications company hasn't stepped to the plate in terms of providing broadband," said James L. Freeze, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. The MCI WorldCom launch "changes that."
Indeed, MCI WorldCom said it expects consumers to be able to purchase the high-speed service plus online access from their Internet-service providers for about $40 to $60 a month -- a rate comparable to current cable-modem packages. U S West Inc., the Denver-based Bell, earlier this year offered a package of DSL and Internet services to residential customers for about $60 a month.
The business product, aimed at companies with multiple computers on a local area network, will start at $500 a month, including Internet access. The company said it expects to offer the service in 25 major metropolitan areas by March.
To be sure, DSL has its shortcomings. Customers who live or work several thousand feet away from a telephone-company office can't achieve maximum downloading speeds, thus limiting MCI WorldCom's roll out to major cities and suburbs. And in most cases, MCI WorldCom will have to reach small-business customers by leasing copper lines from the Bell telephone companies or GTE Corp. "If we want to be an ubiquitous provider, we have to cooperate with other players," said John Sidgmore, vice chairman of MCI WorldCom, based in Jackson, Miss.
With its planned DSL roll-out, MCI WorldCom adds to its arsenal of so-called broadband products, which allow customers to download vast streams of voice, data and video traffic. "You've seen everybody in the industry rushing as fast as they can to get into broadband," Mr. Sidgmore said. Competitors include AT&T Corp., which hopes to provide broadband services to consumers via Tele-Communications Inc.'s cable network and Sprint Corp., which recently announced its own Integrated On Demand service. "You'll see MCI WorldCom being very aggressive on the broadband front," he said.
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November 18, 1998
Dow Jones Newswires
MCI WorldCom's Sidgmore:Voice To Be Thing Of Telecom's Past
By JOHANNA BENNETT and CHRISTOPHER GRIMES
Dow Jones Newswires
LAS VEGAS -- In five years time, the Internet will consume 90% of traffic on telecommunication lines, reducing traditional voice communication to "a niche market," said the chief executive of MCI WorldCom Inc.'s (WCOM) UUnet Technologies Inc. unit.
John Sidgmore said in a keynote address at the Comdex computer trade show here that bandwidth, or the size of the Internet's pipeline, is doubling every three months, equaling an annual growth rate of 1000%. And that growth rate will increase, he added, dispelling the notion some have espoused that the Web's rapid expansion will soon peak.
"We've had the beauty of small numbers working for us. But I think demand will continue to surprise us," Sidgmore said. "There has never been an industry that has scaled at this pace."
Sidgmore's remarks, made in the final keynote speech of the sprawling trade exposition, came as his company announced a national digital subscriber line service, UULink DSL, which he said was the first major roll out of DSL service in the country.
The technology, which provides faster Internet service than the traditional dial-up access, will be deployed for consumer use on American Online Inc. (AOL) and Earthlink (ELNK), two of the industry's largest Internet service providers, next month, he added.
But faster Internet access should not necessarily be a commodity, Sidgmore said.
Internet users want to pay $21 a month, "or whatever Steve wants to charge," he said, referring to Steve Case, chief of AOL. But building the Internet backbone is expensive, Sidgmore added.
The battle over fees for Internet service will likely be a long one, he said. Eventually, Internet users may be charged one fee for local Web access and a separate fee for long-distance service, according to Sidgmore.
He criticized phone companies for not building robust networks and scolded them for not moving faster to embrace DSL technology. Sidgmore also criticized those who argue that Web access should be free, naming Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) chairman and chief executive Bill Gates.
"Bill Gates thinks bandwidth should be free. But we think software should be free," he said, drawing cheers from the audience.
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