My finance view

Overseas stock markets were mixed and U.S. index futures pointed to a weak opening Wednesday, taking back some of the gains in Tuesday's rally inspired by the Federal Reserve's deep interest rate cut.

The U.S. dollar resumed sinking, and oil and gold prices pulled back, with bullion receding below US$1,000 an ounce.

The Canadian dollar opened at 100.67 cents US, off 0.01 cent from the previous close after rising 0.61 cent Tuesday.

The U.S. dollar was at 98.63 Japanese yen, after hitting a 12-year low of 95.77 yen on Tuesday.

The major Asian stock indexes closed higher after Wall Street's exuberant pop following the American central bank's decision to cut the cost of short-term money by three-quarters of a percentage point.

But European bourses were lower as traders took a sober second look at the ongoing challenges facing the American – and the world – economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 420 points Tuesday and Toronto's S&P/TSX composite rose 1841/2 points thanks to the Fed's action and relief at better-than-expected results from investment banks Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs.

Morgan Stanley continued that trend Wednesday, reporting first-quarter earnings of $1.55 billion or $1.45 per share, down from $2.67 billion a year ago but handily beating analyst expectations of $1.03 per share.

This bolstered hopes that the malaise that took down Bear Stearns last weekend was a one-time event http://easy-quick-payday-loans.com. In what was regarded as another optimistic sign, credit card operator Visa Inc. completed the biggest initial public offering in American history late Tuesday, issuing 406 million shares at $44 each to raise $17.9 billion.

Crude oil was down $1.65 at US$107.77 early Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold fell $14.40 to $989.90.

In Canadian corporate news, Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML) swung to a profit of US$23.5 million in the fourth quarter, up from a loss of $2.4 million, as revenue rose to $36.8 million from $8.3 million.

Mega Brands Inc. (TSX: MB) said it will take a charge of $30 million in the fourth quarter largely related to recent toy recalls, the latest of which was announced this week.

The Brick Group Income Fund (TSX: BRK.UN) had its best-ever fourth-quarter net earnings of $22.6 million, up 54.5 per cent over the furniture retailer's holiday quarter of 2006.

On overseas equity markets, Japan's Nikkei average followed Wall Street higher, gaining 2.5 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.3 per cent.

But the FTSE 100 was down almost one per cent near midday in London, while Germany's DAX lost 0.7 per cent and the Paris CAC-40 declined 0.6 per cent.

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