Canada's main stock index opened lower in thin trading on Friday weighed by energy stocks, but was on track to mark its best year since 2009 supported by massive stimulus, vaccine rollouts, and hopes of global economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX Composite handed back 38.83 points in the first hour Friday to 21,255.81
The Canadian dollar climbed 0.48 cents to 78.93 cents U.S.
WestJet Airlines will cancel 15% of scheduled flights in January because the rapidly spreading omicron has left the airline unable to fully staff its operations.
WestJet shares closed Thursday at $30.99.
RBC raised the target price on OpSens to $4.00 from $3.50. Shares in OpSens moved higher three cents, or nearly 1%, to $3.15.
Ontario and Quebec announced fresh measures to combat COVID-19 on Thursday as the country faces a rise in cases that has forced tens of thousands into isolation, made tests difficult to access and burdened its health-care sector.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange crept up 2.3 points to 936.24.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, with industrials down 0.4%, while financials and information technology pitched 0.3% lower.
The three laggards were health-care, ahead 0.4%, energy, inching up 0.2%, and materials, edging up 0.02%.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stocks were little changed Friday morning as investors close out a stellar 2021.
The Dow Jones Industrials dipped 19.97 points to 36,378.11.
The much-broader S&P 500 index subtracted 1.48 points to 4,777.25
The NASDAQ retreated 6.18 points at 15,735.39.
Pfizer was among the S&P 500's leaders, rising more than 1%. British regulators approved the use of Paxlovid – the drugmaker’s COVID-19 antiviral pill – for people over 18 with mild to moderate illness.
Advanced Micro Devices was also a top gainer in the benchmark index. The stock gained about 1% after the chipmaker said it expects $35 billion all-stock takeover deal for rival Xilinx to be completed during the first quarter of 2022.
Strong corporate earnings also boosted U.S. stocks. The estimated year-over-year earnings growth rate for 2021 is 45.1%, according to FactSet. That would mark the highest annual earnings growth rate for the index since FactSet began tracking the metric in 2008.
Entering Friday’s session, the S&P 500 was up 27.2% year to date. That puts the market benchmark on track for its third straight annual gain. Energy and real estate have been the best-performing sectors in the S&P 500 this year, surging more than 40% each. Tech and financials are also up more than 30%.
The 30-stock Dow was up 18.9% through Thursday’s close, also putting it on pace for its third consecutive yearly gain. Home Depot and Microsoft have led the Dow gains, rising more than 50% each.
The tech-focused NASDAQ has risen 22.1% this year, putting the composite on track for its ninth annual gain in 10 years. Names like Alphabet, Apple, Meta Platforms and Tesla have led NASDAQ’s gains this year.
Prices for 10-year Treasurys stayed the same, keeping yields at Thursday’s 1.51%.
Oil prices weakened 85 cent to $76.14 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices picked up $8.60 to $1,822.70 U.S. an ounce.
