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A turnaround in financials – especially insurance companies after Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. hiked its earnings forecast for the year – helped New York and Toronto markets stage a late-day recovery to close higher.

But while the S&P/TSX composite index rose 59.21 points to 8,117.03, it was still a brutal week for the index, which tumbled 12.4 per cent.

New York’s Dow Jones industrial average closed up 259.18 points to 8,635.42 as Hartford’s shares surged $7.38 or 102.36 per cent to $14.59 (U.S.).

Analysts also said stocks turned sharply higher as investors bet that a steep drop in oil prices will help shore up consumer spending and ease the cost of doing business.

The boost from oil’s drop also helped investors put aside worries sparked earlier by much worse-than-expected November payrolls reports.

The TSX energy sector was down 0.55 per cent as the January crude contract in New York slid $2.86 to $40.81 a barrel, plunging 25 per cent this week on growing worries about demand in the face of worsening economic conditions.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.44 of a cent to 78.68 cents.

EnCana Corp. rose $1.04 to $50.86 (Canadian) while Canadian Natural Resources fell $1 online pay day loan.67 to $39.33.

The TSX Venture Exchange was 13.55 points lower to 684.31.

New York’s Nasdaq composite index was ahead 63.75 points to 1,509.31 while the S&P 500 edged up 30.85 points to 876.07.

The Toronto financial sector ended the day up 2.6 per cent even after Royal Bank reported a 15 per cent decline in quarterly profit to $1.12 billion as revenue sagged 10 per cent to $5.07 billion.

Its shares moved down 77 cents to $36.40.

Canadian insurers enjoyed a bounce, with Manulife Financial up $1.33 to $20.80 and Sun Life Financial ahead $1.84 to $26.20.

The base-metals sector fell back 1.9 per cent as March copper prices dropped 9.6 cents to $1.3735 (U.S.) a pound. Teck Cominco Ltd. lost 12 cents to $3.93 (Canadian) and Sherritt International closed down 15 cents to $2.92.

The gold sector faded 0.4 per cent as the February bullion contract declined $13.30 to $752.20 (U.S.) an ounce.

Goldcorp Inc. was $1 lower to $27.85 (Canadian).

From the Star’s wire services

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CHICAGO — Not only are Americans flying less as the economy tanks, they’re spending less time scouting the Internet for travel deals, creating an unprecedented drop in traffic for online travel agencies such as Chicago-based Orbitz Worldwide Inc.
As days shorten and the air chills, consumers typically start to plan winter getaways, making October one of the busiest months of the year for Internet travel sites, analysts said.

Not this year. As consumer confidence reached historic lows in October, the volume of visitors to Web travel portals declined 14 percent, year over year, to 38.2 million, according to ComScore Inc. Web traffic fell for nearly every major airline site.

Hardest hit were the three online powerhouses that have dominated bookings for much of this decade. Web traffic at Expedia Inc. sites plunged 25 percent, to 18.2 million visitors, while Travelocity.com LP and Orbitz saw 16 percent and 23 percent drops, respectively.

The falloff in traffic was unparalleled for the three online agencies, which grew by leaps and bounds during the economic slowdown that followed the Sept. 11 attacks as many consumers turned for the first time to the Internet to unearth bargains.

Anticipating tougher times ahead, Orbitz announced last month plans to reduce its U.S. work force by 10 percent.

"What’s happening in 2008 is a universal buckling down," said Sara Stevens, head of the travel and retail practices for Virginia-based ComScore, a market research firm that tracks Internet traffic. More than half of 1,000 consumers surveyed by ComScore in October planned to change their travel plans this holiday season online cash advance. Of those altering plans, 39 percent said they would opt to stay at home.

However, ComScore’s data did not present a complete picture of online travel activity because it measured only U.S. traffic and not overseas customers. For Expedia, "that’s leaving out a huge chunk," said Amanda Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Bellevue, Wash.-based company.

Hoffman wouldn’t disclose total traffic to Expedia’s sites. But she conceded that the Web travel giant, which controls about 50 percent of the online travel market, did see a falloff in October.

Bucking the trend were two websites that help budget-minded travelers drive better deals. Priceline.com Inc. saw a 24 percent jump in visitors in October, while traffic to Kayak.com surged 93 percent, to 7.9 million visitors.

Kayak, founded by members of the teams that helped start Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity, has gained a following among younger, tech-savvy consumers for innovations that include a tool that allows groups of friends to plan their travel together.

Although Orbitz has predicted weak bookings into early next year, it should benefit eventually as consumers take advantage of cheaper airfares, as well as a new feature that promises refunds if prices drop after airline tickets have been purchased, said Brian Hoyt, a company spokesman. "It’s an incredible time to travel if you have discretionary income," he added.

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Rogers Communications Inc. announced today it will lay off an unspecified number of employees in its media division as it copes with a decline in advertising revenue.

Rogers spokesman Suneel Khanna said the layoffs will impact every company under the Rogers Media umbrella, including its television, publishing and digital operations as well as employees of the Toronto Blue Jays, which Rogers owns.

A source said the cuts could affect about 100 jobs, a third of which are at the Blue Jays baseball team operations. Citytv operations in Toronto are also affected.

Rogers (TSX: RCI.B) paid $375 million in cash last year to buy Citytv operations in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg – stations that CTVglobemedia was ordered to sell by the CRTC for its approval of the $1.7 billion purchase of broadcaster CHUM Ltd.

"What started off as the U.S. financial crisis has now morphed into something much stronger and, as a result, advertising budgets have all but frozen," Khanna said.

"It's in response to that that we've implemented the cost-controlling measures that we have."

The job cuts news came hours after company founder and CEO Ted Rogers died in his Toronto home at the age of 75. He had long suffered from heart ailments.

But one industry analyst said the cuts have nothing to do with Rogers' death.

"You don't have to look very far to find other media companies who are laying off or to hear disaster stories in advertising-driven businesses," said the analyst, who asked not to be identified.

Analysts say the telecommunications and media giant, with 24,000 employees, is in relatively good financial shape, but will likely take a more conservative turn without Rogers at the helm.

Like all media and communications companies, Rogers faces a more difficult economy, with little growth and a squeeze on advertising revenues that could affect its TV stations, magazines and radio operations.

But the analyst said Rogers' media division is one small part of an otherwise healthy company credit score.

"Media is really the tail wagging the dog here. It's less than 10 per cent of the operating cash flow of the company, so it's really immaterial," he said, adding that Rogers has "the best asset class in the business" and an enviable balance sheet.

"No one is going to be immune from this economic slowdown we're going through, and it's going to be brutal in a lot of cases, but relative to pretty much anybody else in the business, Rogers holds a pretty good hand of cards," the analyst added.

Last month, CTV announced it's cutting about 105 positions, many of which affect the broadcaster's "music and youth" channels MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and MTV Canada, although the CTV news division would also lose some employees.

Parent company CTVglobemedia has about 6,500 employees across all of its divisions, which include The Globe and Mail newspaper and CHUM Radio, one of Canada's largest radio broadcasters.

Broadcast rival Canwest Global Communications Corp. (TSX: CGS) recently cut 560 jobs, or about five per cent of its workforce, including 210 at Global Television and its other TV operations.

Conventional TV broadcasters have been squeezed by the loss of advertising revenue linked to the slumping economy, rising competition from specialty channels and competition for advertisers from Internet services.

The industry has also been hurt by a federal regulatory decision rejecting the request of broadcasters such as CTV, CBC and Global to let them charge cable and satellite distributors for carrying their channels.

The CRTC said conventional networks had failed to prove they have enough economic need for the higher revenues, which would have been worth about $300 million a year to the big broadcasters.

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Health care stocks aren’t quite as ill as the rest of the stock market in 2008.

People want to be well and live longer no matter what the state of the economy, so the demand for the majority of health care products and services continues unabated.

In the case of established drug, biopharmaceutical and medical-equipment companies holding enormous amounts of cash, they also aren’t dependent on troubled debt markets.

Health and biotech funds are down 25 percent in value this year, according to Lipper Inc., compared with the average U.S. stock fund that is down 37 percent.
"This has been a year when doing best means losing the least," said Kris Jenner, portfolio manager of the $2.1 billion T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund, down 26 percent this year after a 19 percent increase in 2007. "Large-cap biotech stocks have done by far the best for us, while managed care firms have dramatically underperformed and big pharmaceutical companies have been in a downturn for years."

Jenner, who holds a medical degree, especially admires the investment prospects of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. as the "king of the hill" in generic drugs, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. for its steps to bring to market a new class of hepatitis drugs.

Jenner’s current portfolio is 35 percent biotech, 24 percent pharmaceuticals, 20 percent services and 15 percent products and devices, with the remainder in life sciences.

Dynamic performers within his diverse portfolio this year have included biopharmaceutical stocks Celgene Corp., Genentech Inc. and Amgen Inc., while medication-delivery and bioscience giant Baxter International Inc. has held its own. Many other holdings haven’t fared so well, though the real promise of health care stocks lies in the dramatically reduced stock prices of so many important companies.

"I would look for a bottoming turn in health care because no sector stays in a bear market forever," said Kelley Wright, managing editor of Investment Quality Trends Newsletter in Carlsbad, Calif. "We’re seeing some pretty attractive dividend yields and also starting to see acquisitions."

Two positive signs that Wright sees among the big drug companies: Pfizer Inc easy fast payday loans. recently reported strong profits on flat revenue, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. is effectively reinventing itself by embracing biotech.

Health care stocks have inherent political, regulatory, legal, clinical and reimbursement risks, which means that any bad news can quickly send them into a swoon.

As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office on Jan. 20, he has made it clear the economy is his top priority. Health care initiatives seem destined for the back burner as the president and Congress deal with the financial crisis, the budget deficit and the war in Iraq. Investors, however, will monitor activity closely.

Though reform of health care has been vigorously debated since President Bill Clinton’s first administration, the system remains imperfect and has escalating costs, Jenner said. Yet investors should be forewarned that any potential worrisome news will travel fast, adding volatility.

"The only drawback with the health care stocks and funds is that people will start plowing money into them," said Tom Roseen, Lipper Inc. research manager for the U.S. and Latin America. "Then, once they start turning the other way, they are likely to pop out of them."

Be judicious in what health care stocks you choose because there are so many kinds.

"Traditionally, the market has viewed health care stocks as defensive because the drivers of demand for these companies have tended to remain robust irrespective of economic cycles," said Chris Kallos, senior health care industry analyst with Zacks Investment Research. "However, while this has proven true for the most part in the past, the health care sector is not homogeneous and includes many different sub-industries."

Investors should diversify selectively among health care companies with the greatest earnings certainty, Kallos said. Choose the strongest firms within each category, because competitive position separates winners from also-rans.

andrewinv@aol.com

2008, TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.

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