Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday and was on track to record weekly losses as a weakness in shares of cannabis companies offset a bounce in oil stocks, with investors also assessing the latest monthly jobs report.
The TSX Composite remained in the red 15.06 points, to reach noon Friday at 20,690.21
The Canadian dollar jumped 0.18 cents to 79.14 cents U.S.
Hudbay Minerals jumped 70 cents, or 9.4%, to $8.17 after National Bank of Canada upgraded the stock to "outperform".
Tilray shed 25 cents, or 1.5%, to $16.02, after Piper Sandler cut its price target on the stock, saying it expects near-term headwinds in Canadian cannabis market. Rival Canpoy Growth slid 49 cents, or 2.5%, to $19.41, while Aurora Cannabis also fell, 18 cents, or 2.1%, to $8.54.
On the economic sheet, Statistics Canada says the economy created 90,000 jobs in August, bringing the unemployment rate down 0.4 percentage points to 7.1%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange dipped 1.08 points to 904.12.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower midday, with health-care down 1%, while real-estate slackened 0.6%, and communications faltered 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by energy, growing 0.8%, consumer discretionary stocks up 0.6%, and information technology, up 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined for a fifth-straight day Friday amid economic uncertainty.
The blue-chip index sank 67.67 points by lunch time to 34,811.71. Apple was among the biggest laggards weighing on the Dow, down 1.8%.
The S&P 500 skidded 5.19 points to 4,488.09
The NASDAQ Composite dropped 3.66 points, to 15,244.59.
For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow is down 1.7% and on pace for its second negative week in a row. The S&P 500 is off by about 1.1% for the week, while the NASDAQ is 0.8% lower.
Investors are worried about persistent COVID cases slowing the economy just as hot inflation causes the Federal Reserve to take away easy policies.
The August producer price index released Friday showed wholesale costs for businesses rose 8.3% on an annual basis, its biggest advance on record since at least 2010. The PPI accelerated 0.7% for the month, above the 0.6% Dow Jones estimate. The more important consumer price index for August will be released on Tuesday.
Investors are worried about persistent COVID cases slowing the economy just as hot inflation causes the Federal Reserve to take away easy policies.
The Fed meets on Sep. 21-22 and investors are worried the central bank will indicate a move to slow down its monthly $120 billion in bond purchases, which have kept rates low and boosted the recovery from the pandemic.
Also helping sentiment was a better-than-expected weekly reading on jobless claims. Initial jobless claims came in 310,000, which was below expectations of 335,000 claims. This marked another fresh low for the pandemic era.
Prices for 10-Year Treasurys gained ground, lowering yields to 1.35% from Thursday’s 1.30%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices recaptured $1.50 to $69.64 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices faded $5.60 to $1,794.40 U.S. an ounce.
