Toronto stocks were set for their fifth straight weekly decline as mining shares fell on Friday, while investors assessed the latest batch of domestic and U.S. economic data for more clues on the Bank of Canada's interest-rate trajectory.
The TSX Composite Index dropped 39.81 points to move toward noon EDT Friday at 21,541.54.
The Canadian dollar weakened 0.16 cents to 72.92 cents U.S.
Food and beverage company Lassonde Industries rose 1.6% following an agreement to acquire U.S.-based specialty food manufacturer Zidian Group for $235 million. Lassonde shares climbed $1.86, or 1.3%, to $142.00.
On the economic docket, retail trade in this country increased 0.7% to $66.8 billion in April. The Industrial Product Price Index was unchanged month over month in May and rose 1.8% on a yearly basis. The Raw Materials Price Index declined 1.0% month over month in May and increased 7.6% year over year.
Housing prices rose 0.2% in April, exactly the same rate of increase as April 2023.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dropped 6.83 points, or 1.2%, to 565.60.
Eight of the 12 subgroups stayed in the red midday, weighed most by materials, down 1.7%, gold, losing 1.4%, and health-care ailing 1.2%.
The four gainers were led by consumer staples, up 0.7%, information technology, inching up 0.4%, and consumer discretionary stocks, better by 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell slightly Friday as shares of market bellwether Nvidia slipped for a second day.
The Dow Jones Industrials gave up earlier gains and retreated 39.03 points to 39,095.73.
The much-broader index shed 2.82 points to 5,470.35.
The NASDAQ recovered 26.91 points, to 17,748.50.
The S&P 500 is coming off a losing session after hitting an intraday record of 5,505.53, but headed for a 0.6% weekly advance. The NASDAQ is tracking for a 0.1% weekly loss, while the Dow is the outperformer, touting a 1.6% week-to-date rise.
Nvidia shares were down 2%. On Thursday, the stock hit an all-time high before closing more than 3% lower. Nonetheless, the chipmaker is still up nearly 150% year to date, and briefly beat Microsoft as the most valuable public company on Tuesday.
Trading on Friday could also be more volatile than normal due to triple witching, the expiration of stock options, stock index options and stock index futures options.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slipped a bit, raising yields to 4.27% from Thursday’s 4.26%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices were unchanged at $81.29 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices lost $30.20 to $2,338.80
