The market opened sharply lower this morning anticipating, perhaps, unemployment data that was worse than the data turned out to be. The September unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, exactly what most observers had been expecting.

The markets tried to gain back more than all the early losses, with all three major indexes ending slightly down. Crude oil has fallen below $70/barrel again, and gold has broken through $1,000/oz again. It could just be the case that the nearly 60% run-up since March in the S&P 500 was just wishful thinking that the economy was turning around and that consumer spending would would tick up as things improved. That thinking has not been borne out yet, so markets are likely to wobble around until the consumer decides what to do -- save or spend. The holiday season could write the ending to the story.

Here are todays unofficial closing numbers:

Dow 9,487.37 -21.91 (-0.23%)
S&P 500 1,025.18 -4.67 (-0.45%)
Nasdaq 2,048.11 -9.37 (-0.46%)

I am the Global Editor at MoneyShow.com and each week I interview an investing expert. This week, I spoke with Gordon Pape, editor of The Canada Report, who thinks Toronto may have seen its lows, and he's cautiously optimistic on the loonie, too.

Q. Gordon, since we last spoke, global markets have lost nearly half their value, and the Toronto Stock Exchange's Composite Index has dropped from more than 15,000 to just over 8,700. Have we hit bottom?

A. We are cautiously optimistic, but the recent trillion-dollar bond purchase plan announced by the Federal Reserve is great news for Canada. The flood of cash will likely spur inflation, drive down the value of the US dollar, and raise the price of commodities. It's no surprise that gold [rose] almost $60 an ounce and oil [got] back over $50 a barrel. The Canadian stock market is heavily weighted to commodities, so we are seeing a big lift. I still expect a lot of volatility in the coming months. However, the March 6th TSE low of 7,480 may turn out to have been the bottom for this cycle.

Once again it's ugly out there today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped below 11,000 for the first time in two years, plunging over 2%. The rest of the U.S. stocks are not far behind with both the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 down over 2% as well. It's depressing. But you don't have to look far to see a nicer picture, you just have to look up: up north that is.

The Toronto Stock Exchange has fared much better in what has officially become a U.S. bear market. Over the past year, while the S&P 500 sank over 19%, the S&P/TSX Composite index dropped only 3.4%. Year-to-date, while the S&P 500 declined over 16%, the TSX was barely down 1%. And if you stay away from financials on the TSX, you'd fare even better.

How so, you ask, doesn't the Canadian economy closely follows the U.S.'s? It's mostly true as the U.S. is Canada's biggest trading partner and the Canadian economy is intertwined with that of the U.S. For example, some of the layoffs at GM and Ford plants have occurred in Ontario plants, and Canada's unemployment rate edged up to 6.2% in June due to a drop in full-time jobs.

The thing is, though, that the TSX is heavily weighted in mining and oil & gas companies, sectors that have fared better than techs and financials the past year or so. Getting exposure to the Canadian market is very easy since many stocks also trade on U.S. exchanges, the famous of all may be Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM). But there are others, and some of them, the U.S. investor may want to consider.

"Enbridge Inc. (NYSE: ENB), already Canada's largest shippers of crude oil, is positioning itself to be the dominant distributor of Alberta's oil sands output," notes Tom Slee in Gordon's Pape's The Income Investor.

"The company is in excellent shape. Operating profit in the second quarter rose to $129.5 million, equal to 36 cents a share, up from $118.7 million the year before.

"All of the company's numerous, well-funded projects are on track and should start contributing to profits in 2009. There were no surprises or fireworks in the financial statements, just solid growth, exactly what we need in these volatile markets.

"It has a short- and a long-term program that involves $8 billion worth of projects at an advanced stage and a further $10 billion worth of undertakings on the drawing boards.

What are the best energy investments for long-term investors? To answer this question, I surveyed 20 of the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors to find their current favorite ideas in the energy sector.

Interestingly, the advisors see the best opportunities in areas well beyond traditional oil firms; indeed, no one included in this report chose a major integrated oil company. Rather, the advisors have shown a preference for various oil services sectors, non-oil energy sources, and developing alternative technologies.

Some focus on areas such as deep-sea operations with Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO), Transocean Inc. (NYSE: RIG) and Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII), while others look toward oil shippers such as Nordic American Tanker Shipping (NYSE: NAT) and refiners such as Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO).

Others chose companies that make specific products needed by the oil & gas industries such as NATCO Group Inc. (NYSE: NTG), which makes a wide range of oil & gas processing systems; Dresser-Rand Group Inc. (NYSE: DRC), a maker of control systems; Gardner Denver Inc. (NYSE: GDI), which makes compressor and fluid transfer systems; Tenaris (NYSE: TS), a maker of pipes and tublar products and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB), the largest and most diversified of the oil services companies.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: National Grid, Shire Plc, On Semiconductor and Enbridge were today's noteworthy upgrades:

• Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of National Grid (NYSE: NGG) to Buy from Hold as they believe the Keyspan deal will be positive for shareholders.
• Goldman upgraded shares of Shire Plc (NASDAQ: SHPGY) to Buy from Neutral and added the stock to their Conviction Buy List on valuation and expected gains in the ADHD market.
  
• On Semiconductor (NASDAQ: ONNN) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia on valuation.
  
• Enbridge Inc (NYSE: ENB) was raised to Sector Outperformer from Sector Performer at CIBC World Markets, as the firm sees an attractive 3-year return potential as new projects come into service and expects the stock's relative underperformance to come to an end.

OTHER UPGRADES:

• Visteon Corporation (NYSE: VC) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  
• RSC Holdings (NYSE: RRR) and Greenfield Online Inc (NASDAQ: SRVY) were upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Lehman Brothers.
  
• Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) was raised to Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  
• Stifel upgraded Health Care REITs, including Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR), LTC Properties Inc (NYSE: LTC) and Ventas Inc (NYSE: VTR), to Buy from Hold.