Canada's main stock index barely held onto its gains on Friday as mining and energy plays firmed on higher commodity prices, while shares of its largest airline jumped after quarterly results were reported.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell off its highs of the morning, but still registered positive 11.81 points to greet noon at 13,898.24
The Canadian dollar gained 0.03 cents to 79.69 cents U.S.
The most influential movers on the index included Barrick Gold, which rose 5.1% to $23.15, and First Quantum Minerals, which advanced 13.5% to $10.40.
Air Canada rose 13.3% to $9.38 after it reported a first-quarter profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by a decline in fuel costs.
Among energy issues, TransCanada Corp, the country's number-two pipeline operator, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher income from its Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario. Its shares edged 0.2% higher to $52.08.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc fell 0.9% to $42.50. The company is in advanced talks to buy a controlling stake in the water and sewage unit of Brazilian engineering conglomerate Grupo Odebrecht for up to six billion reais ($1.72 billion), newspaper Valor Econômico said.
Railway stocks also dragged, including a 0.8% decline in Canadian National Railway to $78.03.
Bombardier Inc fell 4.9% to $1.94, as some of this week's gains were pared. A major CSeries order from Delta Air Lines will likely hold investor attention at the company's annual meeting on Friday, overshadowing discord between the company's founding family and disgruntled shareholders.
Uranium producer Cameco Corp fell 1.7% to $16.19 after reporting an unexpected first-quarter adjusted loss as uranium prices continued to soften and demand remained low.
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 9.65 points to 674.79
Nine of the 13 TSX subgroups were negative, as health-care stocks ailed 3.5%, while industrials and consumer discretionary stocks each slipped 0.7%.
The four gainers were led by metals and mining, bolting 8.4%, gold, climbing 4.7%, and materials, up 3.9%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks traded about 1% lower Friday, the last trading day of the month, with health-care and technology stocks leading declines.
The Dow Jones Industrials slumbered 131.08 points to 17,699.68, with IBM, UnitedHealth, Wal-Mart and Apple contributing the most to declines.
The S&P 500 dropped 20.77 points, or 1%, to 2,055.44, with health-care leading nine sectors lower and consumer discretionary the only advancer.
The NASDAQ Composite Index fell 45.25 points to 4,760.04
Apple extended recent losses to trade more than 2% lower in late-morning trade to come within less than $1 above its 52-week intraday low of $92.00 U.S. a share, touched on Aug. 24, 2015. The iPhone maker's stock is tracking for a weekly decline of about 12%
Gilead Sciences reported earnings that missed on both the top and bottom line. Pricing pressure in the hepatitis C market was among the factors weighing on the drug maker’s results, although it did provide upbeat news for investors with a 9.3% dividend increase to 47 cents U.S. per share. The stock fell more than 8.5% in late-morning trade.
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 U.S. 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.
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, according to the U.S. Labor Department.
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 1.84% from Thursday’s 1.82%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions
Oil prices took on 40 cents a barrel to $45.63 U.S.
Gold prices climbed $24.24 to $1,290.50 U.S. an ounce.
