Stocks in Canada’s largest centre turned negative in mid-morning trade on Friday, with shares in Toronto-Dominion Bank falling sharply on reports of employees admitting to breaking the law under pressure to meet sales targets.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dipped 14.93 points to greet noon at 15,481.91
The Canadian dollar resurged 0.2 cents at 74.23 cents U.S.
The bank was last down 2.7% at $67.97, after CBC said hundreds of current and former TD employees had responded with corroboration of an earlier report about the bank's tactics.
The energy group retreated, as oil prices fell further after sharp losses in the past two sessions. Canadian Natural Resources declined 1.3% to $42.73 after jumping sharply on Thursday's news the company would buy significant oil sands assets from Royal Dutch Shell.
The materials group, which includes precious and base metals miners and fertilizer companies, added strength, as Barrick Gold rose 1.1% to $24.15 and First Quantum Minerals up 1% to $13.72.
Element Fleet Management declined 9.7% to $12.78 as several banks downgraded or trimmed their price targets on the company after it reported quarterly earnings.
On the economic scene, Statistics Canada reported that the economy added another 15,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate down to 6.6%.
The agency said Canada has cranked out 288,000 jobs in the past year leading up to February.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange retained 4.13 points worth of gains to 792.98
All but two of the 12 TSX subgroups moved higher during the morning, with information technology stronger by 0.6%, consumer discretionary stocks up 0.5%, and materials better by 0.4%.
The two laggards were energy and financial stocks, each down 0.5%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. equities traded mostly higher on Friday following a strong jobs report, while many investors were already looking ahead to a Federal Reserve meeting next week.
The Dow Jones Industrials came off their highs of the morning, but remained positive 11.59 points midday to 20,869.78, with Boeing contributing the most losses and IBM the most gains.
The S&P 500 gained 4.6 points to 2,369.47
The NASDAQ added 16.22 points to 5,855.02
The stateside economy added 235,000 jobs in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said, adding the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.7%
Investors eagerly awaited the report, looking for one last item confirming the Federal Reserve would probably raise rates next Wednesday.
Experts had market expectations for a March rate hike at 93% after the data were released.
Prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury note gained ground, lowering yields to 2.59% from Thursday’s 2.61%. Treasury prices and
yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices dropped 30 cents to $48.98 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices docked $3.40 to $1,199.80 U.S. an ounce.
