Equities in Canada’s largest centre rose for the fourth straight session on Friday and was set for its best weekly gain since early June, supported by expectations of smaller interest rate hikes from the world's largest economy.
The TSX Composite gained 61.65 points to move into Friday afternoon at 20,405.72. The index was set to gain 2% for the week and was trading above the 200-day moving average.
However, on a year-to-date basis, the index is still down more than 3.7% as investors fear aggressive policy tightening by central banks could trigger a global economic downturn.
The Canadian dollar slid 0.24 cents to 74.75 cents U.S.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange stumbled 4.79 points to register at 576.53.
All but three of the 12 subgroups were positive early afternoon, headed by health-care, up 0.8%, utilities, ahead 0.7%, and industrials, up 0.6%.
The three laggards were gold, sinking 1%, materials, weaker by 0.6%, and information technology, down 0.3%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Friday, notching a gain during the holiday-shortened trading week.
The 30-stock index hiked 152.97 points to begin Friday at 34,347.03, marking the third consecutive session of gains.
The S&P 500 faded 1.14 points to 4,026.12.
The NASDAQ fell 58.96 points to 11,253.22, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell 4% on news that the FTC could block Microsoft from taking over the gaming company.
All three indexes ended the week higher. The Dow is up 1.8%, and the S&P 500 is up 1.5% during the short week. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is lagging the other two indexes but is still up 0.7% in the same timeframe.
Next week, investors will be watching for more earnings reports from companies such as Kroger and Ulta Beauty on deck. On the economic front, traders will be watching further comments from Fed officials, as well as the release of the personal consumption expenditure report on
Thursday — the central bank’s preferred inflation indicator. The November jobs print is due next Friday.
Worries about continued lockdowns in China kept markets in check. The country is ramping up COVID restrictions after seeing climbing case counts in recent days. Earlier in the week, China reported its first COVID deaths since May.
Markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and closed at 1 p.m. EST on Friday.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury regained ground, lowering yields to 3.69% from Wednesday’s 3.70%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices slumped $1.27 to $76.67 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices grew $7.50 to $1,753.10 U.S. an ounce.
