Canada's resource-heavy index rose on Friday, as a gain in mining stocks, on higher copper prices, helped limit the impact from U.S. producer prices data that came in hotter than expected, pushing back speculations of early interest rate cuts.
The TSX Composite rose 93.85 points by noon Friday at 21,316.54.
The Canadian dollar moved backwards 0.08 cents at 74.16 cents U.S.
Among other stocks, shares of asset manager IGM Financial fell $1.66, or 4.6%, to $34.75, after the company reported its fourth-quarter results, while largest carrier Air Canada plummeted $1.30, or 6.8%, to $17.96, after it reported a wider-than-expected adjusted quarterly loss.
Canadian markets will be closed on Monday on account of Family Day.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada says Canadian investors acquired an unprecedented $29.4 billion of foreign securities in December, led by a record investment in foreign shares. Meanwhile, foreign investment in Canadian securities totaled $10.4 billion, mainly in debt instruments.
As well, wholesale sales grew 0.3% to $82.9 billion in December.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 3.24 points to 555.73.
All but three of the 12 subgroups moved forward, with communications growing 1.1%, materials up 1%, and gold better by 0.6%.
The three laggards were information technology, backpedaling 0.4%, real-estate, off 0.2%, and health-care, sliding 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was unchanged midday Friday, after Thursday’s gains, which resulted in another record closing high.
The Dow Jones Industrials eased 26.54 points to stop for lunch Friday at 38,746.58.
The much-broader index backed off 0.6 points to 5,029.13.
The NASDAQ index surrendered 35.79 points to 15,870.38.
This week’s whiplash action briefly put Wall Street in danger of snapping a five-week winning streak. The S&P 500 is now up 0.1% for the week, while the Dow is set for a 0.3% gain. The NASDAQ, however, is poised to slide 0.6%.
A.I. darling Nvidia remained higher Friday as it got another uber-bullish call from a Wall Street analyst, with Loop Capital saying it was set to eventually top $1,200. Applied Materials popped 8% on stronger-than-expected earnings.
Shares of food delivery service DoorDash dropped 9% on a wider-than-expected loss, while digital advertising company Trade Desk popped about 19% after topping analysts’ fourth-quarter revenue estimates and offering an upbeat outlook for the first quarter.
The producer price index for January, a measure of wholesale inflation, increased 0.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones had anticipated a gain of 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, core PPI rose increased 0.5%, higher than the expectations for a 0.1% advance.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury dropped, raising yields to 4.32% from Thursday’s 4.24%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added 80 cents to $78.83 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered $6.40 to $2,021.30.
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