Equities in Canada’s largest centre moved up on Friday as higher oil and gold prices supported energy and mining stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index took on 45.02 points to 13,931.45
The Canadian dollar gained 0.21 cents to 79.87 cents U.S.
Air Canada reported a first-quarter profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by a decline in fuel costs.
Air Canada got lift of $1.21, or 14.6%, to $9.49.
A major CSeries order from Delta Air Lines will likely hold investor attention at Bombardier's annual meeting on Friday, overshadowing discord between the company's founding family and disgruntled shareholders.
Bombardier stock settled 10 cents a share, or 4.9%, to $1.94
First Quantum Minerals Ltd reported a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit as copper production costs fell and production rose in its Zambia operations.
First Quantum shares ballooned in price $1.62, or 17.7%, to $10.78.
Barclays cut the target price on Constellation Software to $515.00 from $565.00, with an equal-weight rating.
Constellation shares acquired $2.03 to $489.03.
Barclays raised the target on Loblaw Companies to $77.00 from $75.00 with an overweight rating.
Loblaw shares decreased 57 cents to $69.34.
On the economic slate, Statistics Canada reported that the economy ailed during February. After rising for four consecutive months, real gross domestic product edged down 0.1% during the month.
The output of goods-producing industries declined in February, while the output of service-producing industries was essentially unchanged.
The agency also said its Industrial Product Price Index declined 0.6% in March, weighed by lower prices for motorized and recreational vehicles, while higher prices for energy and petroleum products somewhat compensated.
The Raw Materials Price Index increased 4.5%, led by higher prices for crude energy products.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange marched ahead 9.45 points to 674.59
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups were negative, as consumer staples trailed Thursday’s close by 1.1%, consumer discretionary issues by 0.6%, and real-estate was off 0.5%.
The four gainers were led by metals and mining, towering 9.6%, gold was up 4.2%, and materials were mightier by 4%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded more than half a percent lower Friday, the last trading day of the month, as investors eyed earnings, data and currency moves.
The Dow Jones Industrials sank 90.09 points to 17,740.67, with UnitedHealth contributing the most to declines. Exxon Mobil was among the few advancers.
The S&P 500 dropped 14.44 points to 2,061.37, with utilities leading seven sectors lower and energy leading advancers.
The NASDAQ Composite Index fell 29.67 points to 4,775.62
Amazon.com reported earnings well above expectations on both the top and bottom line, helped by growth in its Amazon Web Services business. First-quarter earnings of $1.07 a share on $29.13 billion U.S. in revenue compares with last year's loss of 12 cents a share and $22.72 billion U.S. in sales.
LinkedIn's results also soared past expectations and the firm raised its full-year outlook.
Chevron posted a greater-than-expected loss of 39 cents a share, while revenue beat expectations at $23.55 billion U.S. That marked a roughly 32% decline in sales from the comparable year-ago figure of $34.56 billion U.S.
Exxon Mobil reported quarterly earnings and revenue that beat analysts' expectations.
As of mid-morning trade Friday, the Dow and S&P 500 were on pace for slight gains for the month, while the NASDAQ was tracking for a loss of more than 1.5%. The major averages were on pace for a weekly decline of more than 1%
In economic news, personal spending rose 0.1% in March, while personal income rose 0.4%. The Employment Cost Index, the broadest measure of labor costs, increased 0.6% after an unrevised 0.5% gain in the fourth quarter, the U.S. Labor Department said on Friday.
The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, the ex-food and energy personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, edged up 0.1% last month. In the 12 months through March, the core PCE rose 1.6% after advancing 1.7% in February.
Elsewhere, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index for April was 50.4, below expectations of 53.0 and March's 53.6 print.
The final April read on consumer sentiment was 89.0.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury slumped, raising yields to 1.85% from Thursday’s 1.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices took on 58 cents a barrel to $46.81 U.S.
Gold prices screamed higher $17.63 to $1,283.89 U.S. an ounce.
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