Stocks finished Friday relatively unchanged from the day before, as investors expressed relief world events had lost some of their tense edge, and also took in jobs figures from December.
The TSX Composite Index finished the day lower by 1.08 points to 17,234.49, but enjoyed a gain on the week of nearly 1%.
The Canadian dollar gained 0.02 cents to 76.57 cents U.S.
Health-care stocks weighed things down somewhat, with Aurora Cannabis subsiding 26 cents or 10.7%, to $2.16, while HEXO let go of 18 cents, or 9.3%, to $1.76.
Consumer discretionary issues also got roughed up, as Gildan Activewear slid $1.40, or 3.6%, to $37.07, while BRP Inc. fell 16 cents, or 2.7%, to $58.13.
Energy stocks were also bruised, as PrarieSky Royalties dropped 45 cents, or 2.8%, to $15.47, while EnCana dipped 16 cents, or 2.7%, to $5.67.
Gold stocks did their bit to lift the markets, as B2Gold gained 22 cents, or 4.1%, to $5.19, while Alamos Gold shot up 31 cents, or 4.3%, to $7.52.
Among other resource issues, First Quantum Minerals muscled up 61 cents, or 5.1%, to $12.68, while Silvercorp Metals took on 24 cents, or 3.5%, to $7.18.
Utilities also fared well, as Boralex captured 40 cents, or 1.6%, to $25.56., and TransAlta Renewables grabbed hold of 17 cents, or 1%, to $15.63.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada reported that the economy created 35,000 jobs in December, a jump of 0.2% from the month before. The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange jumped 4.68 points to 582.35 on the day, but lost 0.87% on the week
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups were negative by the closing bell, with health-care skidding 2.1%, consumer discretionary fading 1.1%, and energy 0.8% less energetic.
The five gainers were led by gold, up 1.6%, materials, improved 1.3%, and utilities, stronger by 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks fell on Friday, reversing from all-time highs, as investors digested weaker-than-expected jobs data to end a volatile week full of geopolitical concerns.
The Dow Jones Industrials slumped 133.13 points to 28,823.77. Earlier in the session, the 30-stock average broke above 29,000 for the first time ever.
The S&P 500 lost 9.35 points to 3,265.35
The NASDAQ fell 24.57 points to 9,178.86
Boeing shares dropped 1.9% on Friday to lead the Dow lower. The financials and industrials sectors dropped at least 0.7% each to drag down the S&P 500.
The major averages still posted solid weekly gains despite Friday’s muted performance. The S&P 500 took on 0.9%, and NASDAQ climbed 1.8% for the week. The Dow was up 0.7% week to date.
The U.S. economy added 145,000 jobs in December. Economists expected the U.S. economy to have added 160,000 jobs last month.
Wages also disappointed, growing by just 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. Economists had forecast a gain of 3.1%. December was also the first month since July 2018 that wages grew by less than 3% from the year before.
Prices for the 10-Year U.S. Treasury regained ground, dropping yields to 1.82% from Thursday’s 1.86%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices ditched 37 cents to $59.19 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $7.70 to $1,562 U.S. an ounce.
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