Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday, hurt by declines in energy and industrials shares, as investors paused a day after an oversized interest-rate cut in the United States fueled broader gains in global markets.
The TSX Composite Index made progress against the breakeven point, but still trailed 97.08 points, to stop for lunch at 23,769.19, still putting the index up 988 points, or 4.3%, on the week.
The Canadian dollar dipped 0.09 to 73.63 cents U.S.
In corporate news, Orex Minerals announced the appointment of John Eren as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors, effective immediately. Orex stumbled two cents, or 9.5%, to 19 cents.
On the composite index, the biggest decliners were Ballard Power Systems, down 13 cents, or 5.4%, to $2.27, TFI International, down $5.09, or 2.5%, to $198.25, and Africa Oil, which fell seven cents, or 3.5%, to $1.78.
Economically speaking, July retail trade increased 0.9% to $66.4 billion in July. Sales were up in seven of nine subsectors, led by increases at motor vehicle and parts dealers.
The new housing price index crumbled to 217,400 in August, from 279,800 in July.
Statistics Canada’s industrial product price index decreased 0.8% month over month in August and rose 0.2% on a yearly basis, while its raw materials price declined 3.1% month over month in August and fell 2.5% year over year.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange nicked ahead 2.32 points to 585.04, gaining over the last five sessions nearly 40 points, or 7.3%.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with energy stumbling 1.7%, industrials off 1.2%, and consumer discretionary fading 0.9%.
The three gainers proved to be gold, shining brighter 0.9%, materials, inching up 0.03%, and real-estate, just clearing breakeven.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell Friday to cap a big rally for the week that came in the wake of the first major easing of interest rate policy by the Federal Reserve since the pandemic.
The Dow Jones Industrials backed off 58.37 points to 41,966.82, from Thursday’s record highs.
The S&P 500 index skidded 19.15 points, also from record highs of Thursday, to 5,694.49.
The NASDAQ staggered 72.17 points to 17,941.81.
On Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial average hit a record above 42,000 and the S&P 500 climbed above 5,700 for the first time.
The three major averages are on pace for weekly gains. The S&P 500 is up 1.2%, on pace for its fifth positive week over the last six weeks, and year-to-date gains over 19%. The Dow and the tech-heavy NASDAQ are up 1.4% each.New unemployment data also seemed to boost investors’ sentiment. Initial jobless claims, which came in at 219,000 for the week of Sept. 14, were lower than expected and showed a decline from the prior week.
FedEx dented sentiment a bit on Friday after the shipping behemoth cut its earnings outlook. Shares dropped nearly 11% and competitor UPS shed more than 3% in sympathy.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury rallied, dropping yields back to Thursday’s 3.73%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $71.95 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices popped $31.50 to $2,646.10 U.S. an ounce
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