Stocks showed their nerves as the week came to an end, amid signs central banks in both the U.S. and Canada are readying to raise rates very soon.
The TSX Composite Index finished higher Friday by 39.46 points to 21,874.35. On the week, however, the index fell 78 points, or 0.36%.
The Canadian dollar nicked up 0.11 cents to 79.55 cents U.S.
Energy proved the star of the show Friday, with Advantage Oil & Gas gushing 58 cents, or 6.1%, to $10.11, while Nuvista Energy took on 44 cents, or 4.2%, to $10.99.
Gold stocks also shone, with Eldorado Gold climbing 56 cents, or 4%, to $14.45, while Kinross Gold jumped 32 cents, or 4.3%, to $7.81.
In materials, Endeavour Silver powered its way higher by 31 cents, or 5.3%, to $6.19, while Fortuna Silver added 25 cents, or 5.1%, to $5.13.
Tech weighed on the index, however, as Dye & Durham plunged $1.78, or 7.6%, to $21.64, while Shopify’s woes continued, the site losing $53.66, or 6.6%, to $757.46.
Industrials were also pounded, with TFI International faltering $5.24, or 4.8%, to $104.33, while Ballard Power slipped 50 cents, or 3.6%, to $13.48.
In consumer discretionary stocks, Canada Goose Holdings had its feathers ruffled $1.05 a share, or 3.3%, to $30.58, while Dollarama lost two dollars, or 2.6%, to $73.87.
On the economic front, Statistics Canada says the economy created 73,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percentage points to 5.3%, the lowest rate on record since comparable data became available in 1976.
Experts had called for the addition of 80,000 jobs last month after posting a massive addition of 336,600 jobs in February.
In the federal budget, the Liberals put red-hot real estate markets squarely in their sights on Thursday, laying out a budget geared at boosting housing affordability amid soaring inflation, while promising modest new spending to encourage medium-term growth.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange added 1.88 points to 888.21. Over the last five sessions, the index forfeited nine points, or 1.03%.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were in plus territory by Friday’s closing bell, co-led by gold and energy, each up 2.1%, materials, stronger 1.7%.
The three laggards were information technology, down 3%, while industrials shed 1%, and consumer discretionary stocks, withering 0.6%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks closed the week in the negative on Friday as investors braced for tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrials jumped 137.55 points to end the day and the week at 34,731.12.
The S&P 500 settled in the red 11.93 points to 4,488.28
The NASDAQ Composite tumbled 186.3 points, or 1.3%, to 13,711 for its first weekly loss in four weeks.
Tech stocks led the day’s losses as investors dumped the riskier shares in anticipation of higher interest rates limiting the group’s future profit growth.
Chipmakers like Nvidia dipped 4.5% while and Micron, lost 1.4%, while shares of Tesla subsided 3%, Alphabet lost 1.2%, and Apple moved 1.4% lower
Shares of Robinhood slipped nearly 7% after Goldman Sacks downgraded the trading app to sell from neutral and UPS fell about 1% on the back of a downgrade from Bank of America citing concerns about weakening demand and declining prices in the industry.
The health-care and consumer staples sectors rallied this week as investors worried about a slowing economy pivoted toward stocks with stable earnings. Merck and UnitedHealth Group inched higher again on Friday. Merck closed the week 5% higher while UnitedHealth hiked 6.5.
Meanwhile, financial sector companies like JPMorgan Chase and American Express rebounded, giving up some of the week’s earlier losses.
Energy companies including Occidental Petroleum and Halliburton moved higher on Friday.
Treasury prices fell as yields increased to 2.71%, from Thursday’s 2.65%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices strengthened $1.90 to $97.93 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices added $10.70 to $1,948.50 U.S. an ounce.
