Canada's main stock index was little changed on Friday, as weakness in technology and health-care stocks offset commodity-linked gains, but the benchmark index was on course to gain for a third straight week.
The TSX Composite ground out a gain of 20.45 points to 21,232.84 to begin the week’s final session at 21,203.56
The Canadian dollar took on 0.28 cents to 81.12 cents U.S.
The board of Rogers Communications voted to remove Edward Rogers as chairman, the company said on Thursday, amid a tussle between the family members of late founder Ted Rogers over who should lead one of Canada's biggest telecoms companies.
Rogers shares hesitated 39 cents to $59.80.
National Bank of Canada cuts the rating on Alamos Gold to sector perform from outperform. Alamos shares added 27 cents, or 2.7%, to $10.18.
National Bank of Canada also raised the target price on Franco-Nevada to $205 from $200. Franco shares jumped $3.54, or 2%, to $180.40.
Canaccord Genuity cut the rating on Precision Drilling to hold from buy. Precision shares plunged $1.55, or 2.8%, to $54.67.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported retail sales were up 2.1% to $57.2 billion in August. The agency went on to say sales increased in nine out of 11 sub-sectors, led by higher sales at food and beverage stores, gasoline stations, and clothing and clothing accessories stores
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange recovered 4.59 points to 949.98.
Eight of the 12 TSX subgroups were positive in the first hour, with gold brighter 2.7%, materials stronger by 1.8%, and energy rumbling 1.3% higher.
The four laggards were weighed most by health-care and information technology, each down 1.7%, while consumer discretionary struggled 0.4%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 was about unchanged a day after the benchmark closed at a record.
The Dow Jones Industrials leaped 149.32 points to 35,752.40.
The S&P 500 gained 4.06 points to 4,553.84.
The NASDAQ Composite fell, however, 50.28 points to 15.165.14, after poor results from two technology companies.
Shares of Intel retreated more than 10% following a weaker-than-expected sales report. The semiconductor company blamed an industry-wide chip shortage for its revenue miss.
Social media stocks also dropped after Snap said its advertising business declined due to Apple’s privacy changes. Snap shares sunk more than 20%. Facebook and Twitter pulled back 4% and 2%, respectively.
Tesla shares extended their rally, rising 1% after hitting a new intraday high earlier in the morning. The stock closed 3% higher Thursday after posting record profit and revenue, along with strong margins.
Despite these blips in the tech sector, overall earnings season has been terrific so far, boosting the broader market back to an all-time high following a two-month lull. So far for the third quarter earnings season, 84% of companies are reporting EPS above estimates. Profits are on pace in the quarter to increase 33.7%.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys regained ground, lowering yields to 1.67% from Thursday’s 1.69%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices gained 46 cents to $82.96 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices progressed $28.20 to $1,810.30 U.S. an ounce.
