Stocks acquired some upward momentum heading into a long weekend, and closed with a fair bit of strength.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 74.47 points to end Friday, the week, and month and the first half of calendar 2019 at 16,382.20. But the index lost on the week… 143 points in all.
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.02 cents to 76.36 cents U.S.
Markets in Canada will be closed Monday for Canada Day
The first half of the year has been a period of tremendous growth for the TSX, which has roared ahead more than 2,000 points, or 14.4%, since New Year’s Eve.
Consumer discretionary stocks led a small parade of gainers, as Canada Goose Holdings triumphed 98 cents, or 2.6%, to end the week at $38.50, while MTY Food Group gained $1.33, or 2.1%, to $65.07.
In the utilities sector, Transalta Corp. leaped 53 cents, or 6.6%, to $8.52, while Altagas added 24 cents, or 1.2%, to $19.74.
Gold stocks also fared well, as New Gold picked up eight cents, or 6.8%, to $1.26, while Alacer Gold strengthened 20 cents, or 4.6%, to $4.52.
Consumer staples were not so strong Friday, as Alimentation Couche-Tard slid $1.16, or 1.4%, to $82.10, while Premium Brands slouched 57 cents to $89.28.
Techs also got bruised, as Quarterhill Inc. lost a penny to $1.40, while Shopify forfeited $2.92 to $391.74.
Health-care were ailing Friday, as HEXO dished out 10 cents, or 1.4%, to $6.98, while Canopy Growth slid 62 cents, or 1.2%, to $52.74.
On matters macroeconomic, Statistics Canada reported that real gross domestic product was up 0.3% in April, following a 0.5% increase in March.
Goods-producing industries rose 0.4%, while services producing industries increased 0.2%. The 20 industrial sectors were nearly evenly split between gains and losses.
In May, the agency said its Industrial Product Price Index edged up 0.1% in May.
Higher prices for energy and petroleum products and for motorized and recreational vehicles were largely offset by lower prices for primary non-ferrous metal products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 5.42 points to 585.47, easing the weekly loss to just more than seven points.
So far this year, the Venture Exchange has added 28 points, or 5.1%.
Seven of the 12 Toronto subgroups were positive to end the week, as consumer discretionary stocks moved forward 0.5%, while utilities advanced 0.4%, and gold was up 0.3%.
The five laggards were weighed most by consumer staples, down 0.5%, information technology, off 0.3%, and health-care stocks, fading 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks closed higher on Friday, boosted by bank shares, as investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Wall Street also wrapped up its best first half to a year in two decades.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 73.38 points at 26,599.96. The 30-stock index suffered a weekly loss, however, of about 120 points. J.P. Morgan Chase’s performance powered the index.
The S&P 500 increased 16.84 points to 2,941.76, led by the financials sector. The large index sustained a loss on the week of nine points.
The NASDAQ Composite tacked on 38.49 points to 8,006.24, a loss on the week of just over 25 points.
Even so, Friday’s session marks the end of a stellar start to the year for stocks. The S&P 500 is up more than 17% for 2019, marking its best first half to a year since 1997.
The major indexes rose sharply for the month as well. The Dow gained 7.2% in June, its best June performance since 1938. The S&P 500 rose 6.9% this month, its biggest June gain since 1955. The NASDAQ advanced 7.4%.
J.P. Morgan Chase jumped 2.7% while Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo all closed more than 2% higher. Morgan Stanley shares advanced 0.7%.
Their gains come after they passed the Fed’s annual stress test and got approval to boost dividends and share repurchase programs. Goldman hiked its quarterly dividend by nearly 50% while J.P. Morgan raised its dividend by 10 cents.
But Wall Street’s gains were kept in check as traders awaited the Trump-Xi trade meeting scheduled for Saturday.
The world’s two largest economies have maintained firm stances going into the weekend, with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce calling on Washington to cancel its pressure and sanction measures on Huawei and other Chinese companies, while Trump reiterated a threat to impose tariffs on all Chinese imports if talks fail.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury were unchanged, keeping yields at Thursday’s 2.01%.
Oil prices were down $1.45 to $57.98 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices were positive $1.90 to $1,413.90 U.S. an ounce.
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