Stocks in Canada’s largest market were little changed in early trade on Friday as gains for gold miners were offset by a pullback in energy and financial stocks at the end of a heavy week of bank earnings and oil price gains.
The S&P/TSX Composite dipped 18.51 points to open Friday at 15,009.02
The Canadian dollar gained 0.18 cents at 75.26 cents U.S.
National Bank of Canada posted a better-than-expected adjusted profit for the fourth quarter, benefiting from growth in its retail and wealth management businesses. The company’s overall net income fell 11.5% to $307 million, or 78 cents per share, hurt by certain onetime charges.
National shares gained 15 cents to $50.98.
Barclays raised the target price on Blackpearl Resources to $2.00 from $1.50, saying the company appears well-positioned to develop the next phase of its thermal project, providing visibility to growth in 2019.
Blackpearl shares acquired four cents, or 2.2%, to $1.89.
CIBC started coverage on Ivanhoe Mines with an outperform rating, considering the Kamoa-Kakula project as a globally significant high-grade copper deposit that still has significant scope for value creation.
Ivanhoe shares picked up three cents, or 1.3%, to $2.30.
Canaccord Genuity raised the target price on Toronto-Dominion Bank to $66.00 from $63.00, citing the company’s U.S. retail growth in the fourth quarter, which capped a strong year.
TD shares tailed off six cents to $63.01.
In economic news, Statistics Canada reported that the economy created 11,000 jobs in November. But, with fewer people searching for work, the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage points to 6.8%.
Experts were looking for a drop of 20,000 jobs last month.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.77 points to 744.31
The 12 TSX subgroups were divided evenly between gainers and losers, as consumer staples moved forward 1.1%, gold shone 1% brighter, and health-care picked up 0.9%.
The half-dozen laggards were weighed most by energy stocks, sagging 0.8%, financials, off 0.3%, and information technology, subsiding 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks opened along the flatline as investors digested a stronger-than-expected jobs report while bracing themselves for a key constitutional referendum in Italy.
The Dow Jones Industrials dropped 22.98 points to 19,168.95, with IBM contributing the most losses.
The S&P 500 climbed 3.84 points to 2,194.92, with financials leading decliners and utilities rising almost 1% to lead advancers.
The NASDAQ composite index gained 9.13 points to 5,259.92,
On the economic beat, the U.S. added 178,000 jobs last month, according to figures released by the U.S. Labor Department, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.6%. Economists expected a gain of 175,000 with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.9%. Wages, however, slumped to 2.5%.
Treasury prices for the 10-year note jumped, lowering yields to 2.39% from Thursday’s 2.44%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices added nine cents to $51.15 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices tacked on $6.80 to $1,176.20 U.S. an ounce.
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