The energy sector pushed Canada's main stock index up on Friday, as oil prices rose on supply concerns ahead of a meeting of OPEC and other large crude exporters.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index remained afloat 18.57 points to greet noon at 16,233.32
The Canadian dollar stepped back 0.08 cents to 77.41 cents.
Canada and the United States showed scant sign on Thursday of closing a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Canadian officials made clear Washington needed to withdraw a threat of possible auto tariffs.
Energy stocks proved the biggest star, Suncor gaining 74 cents, or 1.5%, to $50.72, while Imperial Oil gathered 81 cents, or 2%, to $40.58.
Shares of precious metal miners capped gains on the market
Barrick Gold lost eight cents to $13.63, while Goldcorp dipped three cents to $13.87. Nutrien fell 48 cents to $74.16.
The largest percentage gainers on the TSX were Ivanhoe Mines, which eight cents, or 3.1%, to $2.64, and MEG Energy, which rose 17 cents, or 2.3%, to $7.42.
New Gold fell the most on the TSX, off five cents, or 4.2%, to $1.25, while the second biggest decliner was Aphria, down 69 cents, or 3.5%, to $19.27.
On the economic calendar, Statistics Canada reported that the consumer price index rose 2.8% in the 12 months leading up to August, following a 3.0% increase in July. On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, the CPI was up 0.1% in August, after increasing 0.5% in July.
Retail sales rose 0.3% to $50.9 billion in July on higher sales at food and beverage stores and gasoline stations. Excluding the lower sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales increased 0.9%.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange regained 1.47 points to 721.72
Seven of the 12 subgroups were positive midday, as energy strengthened 0.8%, industrials picked up 0.4%, and utilities moved ahead 0.3%.
The five laggards were weighed most by health-care, shedding 2.2%, while gold and consumer discretionary stocks each dipped 0.2%.
ON WALLSTREET
The Dow Jones Industrials gained another 87.66 points, on top of Thursday’s all-time high, to break for lunch at 26,744.64,
The S&P 500 added 5.28 points to 2,936.03, also a new all-time record, led by gains in McDonald's.
The Dow is up 1.9% and the S&P up 0.9% for the week, as investor fears of a full-blown trade war taking place decreased, as telecommunications outperformed.
The NASDAQ moved downward 5.41 points to 8,022.82, as Micron led some of the largest tech companies lower.
Investors also braced for an S&P 500 sector reshuffling that will send Google-parent Alphabet, Netflix, Facebook and Twitter to the telecommunication services sector. That sector will also be renamed communication services starting Monday. Disney and CBS will also be added to the revamped sector.
The moves will lead to a 21.4% loss in market cap for the consumer discretionary sector and a 19.5% drop in tech's market value. Meanwhile, the new communication sector will represent 9.8% of the S&P 500, up from the current telecom's size of 2%.
Analysts are not expecting a large move when the new sector starts trading on Monday, but some media stocks could garner buying interest as some of the large FANG stocks join the space.
McDonald's shares rose 2.3% after the company hiked its quarterly dividend by 14.9% to $1.16 per share.
Micron shares dropped 3.6% after the chipmaker said PC processor shortages are hurting demand for memory chips, a key business for the company.
Prices for the benchmark for the 10-year U.S. Treasury faded, raising yields back to Thursday’s 3.07%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices docked 10 cents to $70.22 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices tumbled $9.90 to $1,201.40 U.S. an ounce.
